[Thursday, October 30, 2003 1:33 AM]
Halloween is tomorrow.
What are you doing to celebrate? I'll tell you. You're coming to mine and Sue Kim's Halloween Party!
When: Friday, October 31st. 8:00 PM. Halloween!
Where: My Flat
The Exchange
25 Broad St. Apt 9-D.
New York New, NY 10004
Wear costumes. There *might* be a BEST costume contest. "Beverages" are welcomed.
[Wednesday, October 22, 2003 2:19 AM]
So today (as in Tuesday), on my way back from running, I found some people standing outside of the Regent Hotel (55 Wall St.) with signs that said, "GQ Men of the Year Awards." You KNOW I had to check this out, so I ran the whole ONE block away (that's how far my place is from 55 Wall) to shower up real fast and get my CAMERA! Well, here's what ensued:
The red carpet area...
Do you smell what THIS man is cookin'? Yes, The Rock.
Ghetto Superstar...Mya
[Monday, October 20, 2003 11:24 PM]
Yet another AMAZING weekend.
From Left to Right: Wycliffe Gordon, FPC, and Eric Reed!
On Friday afternoon, I came home from work and showered up because I was going to the Village Vanguard with Lilian, Sherry, and Katie!!! We met up at my place (good job Katie, for driving in NYC for the first time!), and got ready to head out. Before heading into the jazz club, we hit up this little sandwich shop to snack a bit (the club has drink minimums with no food). 8:30PM rolled around eventually and we went across the street to see Eric Reed and the New York 7 (featuring Wycliffe Gordon-tb, Marcus Strickland-tsax, Brad Leali-asax, Jeremy Pelt-tpt
Barak Mori-b, Rodney Green-d, and Eric Reed-p)!!! Man, was it awesome...we had two bottles of wine and relaxed to jazz for a good hour and a half...I'm definitely going to make it a point to see more jazz shows.
Me and the girls at Village Vanguard
After the show, we wanted to go drink and dance (haha, of course). We went to Remote Lounge (yes, again), but the place was having a freaking goth party! I paid cover to get us all in, and we didn't even stay for 5 minutes. Blah! Oh well, lesson learned. It's okay, I called up my old friend Jay aka DJ Murdah One to see if there was a party going on that night. Luckily, there was! So, off to the Villa we went (6th Ave. btwn. 39th and 40th I THINK). The place was actually pretty nice. Haven't seen a lot of Filipinos in a long time, so I guess it was good that I ended up at a Filipino party with THREE Chinese girls haha. It's okay, I think the girls still had fun (I think?). At least Sherry and Katie had fun with each other haha! We danced and drank until it hit about 2AM because we still had to go back to Rutgers...
We went back to my place and relaxed. With no doubt, everyone just fell asleep instead of just driving back to Rutgers haha. Everyone woke up about 2 hours late (sorry Lilian for not making it to class...), but it's okay because people had their sleep. We drove back to Rutgers (ahhhh) to get ready for the upcoming day. Kent was just waking up as Lilian got home, so we decided to all eat Dim Sum at some place that I've NEVER been to before while I was at Rutgers. It was actually really really good! Thanks for the lunch guys! Kent suggested going to Short Hills Mall because he had a coupon for Saks. We went because we were excited to shop and come back with a lot of stuff, but guess what? We all came back with NOTHING (haha). We still had fun though. Finally, after the mall, Katie drove me to South Jersey so that I could pick up some stuff and see my family (especially my little sister!!!). Thanks Katie ;)
Sunday, I guess I just relaxed.
[Friday, October 17, 2003 1:13 AM]
Wow. Even this week was great (not to mention a kick-ass Friday that's coming up tomorrow (tonight?)...The thing is, I can't remember what really happened on Monday and Tuesday. I mean, I remember little things, but I can't remember where I went out? Did I go out? Man, I'm getting old. Anyway, on to Wednesday!
I came home from work, and I decided to RUN. Yes, I'm back to running! I invited my roomie to come run with me, so we both got ready, and headed out. Altogether, it was a good 2.5 miles. Not bad for a re-starter I guess. Afterwards though, my roomie cooked dinner. Oh man, this pasta was really good, so I ate a lot! What was the point of running? I dunno, it felt good. Running is a great stress reliever for you stressed out people out there! Try it out, thanks. After eating, went to K-Town to chill! Space 212 (I like the place okay?) was the destination, and I had 2 Mandrin Tonics and a bottle of Yogurt Soju. Mmmm...On the way home, took the W train. Little did I know that this train's last Manhattan stop was Canal St. Ugh, I ended up in Brooklyn, and it was quite a buzzkill. It's okay because I still experienced something new. Moreover, I LEARNED something new. You know? Smile! Took the N train home and slept.
Thursday, work was interesting. It was Myah's birthday! I actually participated in one of those Office Birthdays where you bring a person a cake! That was a first...It's really not THAT great, but hey, it was something that broke up the day pretty well. If you're wondering, yes I had cake, but I didn't finish my piece. SO MUCH CHOCOLATE!
After work is where the craziness started. We (Myah, Jei, and I) went to Union Square for a Smirnoff sponsored party. Myah, Jei, Jei's friend Joung (it was a pleasure meeting you!), and I hit up Park Bar, one of the five venues hosting this big Smirnoff party. It was OPEN BAR for Smirnoff cocktails and drinks!!! I had my fair share of FOUR Raspberry Smirnoff & Tonics. It's actually really good...maybe even comparable to the mighty Mandrin Tonic! Anyway, after the bar was a "secret-concert" where they don't tell you who's performing. Guess who it was? N.E.R.D!!! Yes, Pharrell! Yes, the Asian guy (haha don't know his name). I got my fair share of pictures, and even got a picture with the drummer! Furthermore, I walked away with a Smirnoff party T-shirt and a Neptunes visor! Whoo! Good stuff!
Stay tuned for this weekend's events! It's gonna be crazy!
Click on the image to zoom 
:
(Note: Jei's not really that short. He's actually a lot taller than I am, but he was nice enough to bend his knees a little...okay, a LOT in order to make ME feel better)
Pharrell's Frontin'.
[Monday, October 13, 2003 12:15 AM]
What a great weekend.
Friday:
Left work at 4:00 PM (yes, early) so that I can meet up with Katie at my place. She had an interview (good luck on the results) a couple of blocks from my pad, so I let her wait for me at my apartment (left the key with the doorman). Anyway, why would I let a psycho stay at my place (j/k)??? She was having a potluck with the mighty MIS crew (and then some) at Rutgers. As soon as I got home, I rushed to put together a sauce for Chicken Adobo while freshening up from a day's work. We packed up some stuff in a backpack, hit up the subway to Penn Station, and took the NJ Transit (NE Corridor) to good old New Brunswick! You might laugh at me, but I actually got pretty giddy as I saw the familiar Rutgers territory.
We walked to Katie's place to begin prepping for the potluck. People started coming, and we started eating! There was sooo much food...BBQ Pork Ribs (yum), salmon teriyaki (yum), beef chow fun, beef with string beans, some other Chinese fish dish, Chinese broccoli (I think?), rice, and my Chicken Adobo (don't worry, I won't talk about how much everyone DIDN'T like it haha). Oh, I can't forget about Lilian's grapes (haha)! In the end, we were all pretty stuffed. We chilled out for awhile, until everyone agreed to take my recommendation to go to ECHO Noraebang (karaoke place in Edison, NJ). We stopped at a liqour store to pick up some "drinks" first. David and Eric showed up to my surprise to join the fun. All I have to say about karaoke that night was that it was CRAZY and a LOT of fun! Oh, and my voice suffered a bit too. Three hours of screaming...i mean singing, kinda does that to you. We parted, and went back to Katie's place. Sherry and I stayed over that night and just talked and chilled until about 6:30 AM. Thanks to Katie for her hospitality, Sherry, Amy, Lilian, Kathy, Kent, and Sung for the food and company!
Saturday:
Woke up and went to Noodle Gourmet with Katie and Sherry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it deserves that exclamation mark because I love that place THAT much. After stuffing ourselves with food and bubble tea, we went back to Katie's to plan out the night. Unfortunately, Sherry went home and couldn't come out. Katie and I chilled until about 7:30, when Kent came to pick us up to go to back to the city (a place that I can GLADLY call home now)...but without first picking up Lilian. Anyway, we go into the city and stop at my place first so that I could shower and change. Yes, I've been wearing the same stuff for a long time at this point. We got ready, and headed up to...guess where? Typhoon Lounge (once again) for Japanese food. The waiter actually recognized me because I've been there so many times! Haha...cool, I guess I'm a regular now? Anyway, we had really good food (thanks to Kent's and Katie's suggestions). After that...we PARTIED. Our next stop was Sin Sin / Leopard Lounge...the place was PACKED upstairs, so we spent most of our time downstairs. Good music, good drinks, good friends...we just danced the whole time we were there! There was one really interesting event...I was dancing, and because it was so packed, there would be people behind me dancing as well. Anyway, I felt this other girl's back (as well as, backside) dancing, so I decided to just go with her flow hahaha. We both turned around and started dancing. Weird, I didn't know it was so easy to dance with a random girl...just rub asses! Anyway, we left after a good session. Kent, Katie, and Lilian had to go back home, so we said our goodbye's and I went home to umm...sleep...
Sunday:
Woke up at 3:30 PM (I haven't done THAT in a long time). Farted around for awhile, until I get a call from Stephanie reminding me to come to her dinner party. Of course, I agreed to go, so I got ready and went to her place. The food, drinks, and people were all great. It was nice meeting everyone (just in case you're reading this). Thank you Stephanie and Sonia for being great hostesses.
I guess that brings me to the present, as I write this long entry. Did you notice that I was getting less detailed as the entry got longer and longer? Well, that's not because I was getting bored and impatient, but because my carpal-tunnel was kickin in...ouch! hahaha
[Friday, October 10, 2003 3:01 AM]
Tonight (Thursday night) was very cool. Well, I fell asleep after work until 9PM, after which I woke up, got showered / dressed, then went to meet Gina at this very very cool place called Deep for a Stuff / Maxim / Blender promotional party. Cover for the guys (me) was 15 bucks (guestlist, of course), but they were serving FREE Heinekens and Amstel Lights until midnight. Needless to say, I got my money's worth. I enjoyed the music, the crowd, and the atmosphere. I kinda liked dancing by myself and ignoring everyone else. I think I want to be a professional partier?
This weekend should be interesting...stop back for updates.
Anyway, here are a couple of pics:
[Tuesday, October 7, 2003 2:56 AM]
I went to sleep at 10:30, but my body told me to wake up at 2:30. Weird. Anwyay, work is getting interesting. Like I said, I'm creating projects for myself, rather than really being "given" projects. This one project I want to take on is pending approval not from my boss, or my boss's boss, but my boss's boss's boss! Nice, right? We'll see what happens. From that level, there's added pressure to do well (not that I don't try to produce high quality output at all times), but I love being challenged.
Brief news from the weekend: The NEYO crew came over from South Jersey and we chilled at my place for awhile before heading out to meet Wei-Jei & co. at Forbidden City (along with Isaac, who joined us before hitting the subway). Well, we showed up late, and they were already heading out, so the guys and I went somewhere else. Kashif also joined us at this point. Next stop: Milkbar. After that, Kim and Isaac were both hungry so we went to Typhoon to eat (St. Marks). After this, the guys just wanted to go back (blah), so we went home and hung out some more on my rooftop and in my room with Taboo. They left at 6AM, and at around 6:15, my parents and my little sister came up to visit! They also brought me a very nice plant, as well as my winter clothes (finally!) At this point I was already really really sleepy, so they left at 9, and next thing I know, I woke up at 3PM Sunday. Sunday was interesting as well. Isaac and I went to LOMBARDI's COAL OVEN PIZZERIA (32 Spring St.). I saw this place on FoodTV (my favorite channel) and had to visit. The line was out the door! The pizza was delicious, although I don't think it deserves F25 from Zagat. Maybe it was our toppings. Next time, the pizza I'm getting is going to be ALL meat! Supposedly, this place was the US's FIRST pizzeria.
Here are some pics from the weekend:
Click on the images to zoom :
(No zoom on the image below)
[Saturday, October 4, 2003 5:50 PM]
Last night was pretty interesting. I went out with Brian (my roomie) to get some dinner at Taisho Yakitori (St. Marks Place). We ate SOOOO much. Let's see if I can remember what we got, and I apologize for not knowing the exact Japanese name of the dishes:
:
[Thursday, October 2, 2003 10:27 PM]
Look who I saw at Chinatown today after work! Leave me a message on my guestbook to tell me who you think it is
Click on the image to zoom :
[Thursday, October 2, 2003 12:59 AM]
Hahaha...check out these pics! See any resemblance?
[Wednesday, October 1, 2003 1:42 AM]
Forgot to talk about the Wall Street Run! Here are my results:
Out of 3,520 people, 1,890 of whom were men and 1,630 were women, I placed (overall) 2558th. Not bad for my first run!
Last Name: CUARTERO
First Name: FRANCIS
Sex/Age: M22
Bib: 3270
Team: ML
City: NEW YORK
State: NY
Overall Place: 2558
Gender Place: 1584
Age Place: 459
Finish Time: 32:47
Net Time: 32:01
Pace / Mile: 10:19
AG (Age Group) Time: 32:01
AG Gender Place: 1643
AG %: 40.5%
See the official results at The New York Road Runners Online
As for Monday night, I had dinner at Steph and Sonia's place (thanks you two). Special thanks to Steph for giving me a gift consisting of more egg tarts from Taipan Bakery (Flushing branch). Thanks thanks thanks!
Tuesday night, it was my turn to make dinner (for Steph, Sonia, and Isaac). I made burgers and fries (and salad, but sonia helped with that...thanks Sonia). Dinner turned out pretty deeelish.
Is this a new tradition? Cooking for each other because we live so close? Hmm...we'll see. I'll consider it if only you bring the funny Cantonese movies (God of Gamblers or something like that hahaha...hilarious stuff!).
Good times, good times.
Oh yeah, my roommate Brian is back. Welcome back Brian, and have great first day at your new job tomorrow! (geeez, now I don't have the place all to myself haha)
[Sunday, September 28, 2003 3:30 PM]
Eventful, eventful, eventful weekend.
Friday night, went out to Mul for Chen's birthday party. My Korean is so bad now (not that it wasn't bad before, but at least I could sing without messing up). I'm rusty! I took a lot of pictures...very funny ones too, so they'll be up soon, once I decide what to do with my gallery (deciding to just screw the DHTML and go with a MySQL / PHP type of thing). Anyway, at Chen's party, it goes without saying how much "fun" we had by the final bill. 'Twas $963.00 + or something like that! Needless to say, I didn't feel too well the next day. It was great to see everyone again!
Saturday night, I went bar-hopping with Sung and his new boss Jose. It was a lot of fun...now only if I could remember the details. I don't even really remember where we went. Like I said, SO many places. Took pictures (of course), so they'll be up.
Lastly, I would like to just show off the new bathroom set that I got (I know what you're thinking, and frankly, I don't care). It matches the rest of my bathroom fixtures too! I didn't get the soapdish, the tumbler, or the jar, because I didn't need them and I didn't want to spend an extra 35 bucks. I never thought I'd spend $40.00 on a trashcan before, but hey...things are different now right?
[Thursday, September 25, 2003 1:45 AM]
So the "potluck" party turned out pretty well. Thanks to those that made it out: Stephanie (thanks for the Macaroons), Sonia (thanks for the Macaroons as well), Tapan (thanks for the wine), Kashif (thanks for the seranade haha), Isaac (thanks for the Mango, Avocado, & Shrimp salad), and Oz (thanks for the Dos Equis). You'll find raw pictures at http://www.patcuartero.com/images/canon/MLpotluck092403/.
As for yesterday, a big Happy Birthday (again) to my neighbor "Goddess"! Check out your pictures below! (Nice haircut by the way!)
As for TODAY, I'm going to be "Running with the Bulls" at Merrill Lynch's Wall Street Run. I haven't come close to running in ages, so this will be an amazing sight if I make it to the end of the 3.1 miles (5km). I figure, if used to be able to do 3.65 miles no problem, I can do 3.1 easily, even without training. We'll see just how out of shape I am tomorrow.
Lastly, Happy Birthday to my girl Angel DeJesus! You know I'll never forget your birthday right? Sorry for waking you up at midnight...
Click on the images to zoom :
[Sunday, September 21, 2003 2:56 PM]
Have you noticed the changes to the website? If you haven't, I'll tell you, so you can give me your opinion. First, I've added dropdown menus to the site. Yes, this means there's going to be a lot more sections coming up! Just to tease you (if you care or not), I've put up what I have in store for you guys. Yes, I will have a video gallery. Yes, I will have a restaurant guide (I'm going to do what I've been doing in my posts...comparisons between Zagat and Pat's ratings). Yes, I will have recipes (I know it's not very masculine, but whatever...I like my dishes). Finally, I should be having a tutorials page, where I share my own knowledge about cool stuff. I didn't put it up, but I will also make "hobby" pages, where I showcase all of my past and present hobbies. Anyway, there's a lot more in store for this website (at least before the next makeover).
As for the second change, check out the Gallery page, where I've uploaded pictures from Remote lounge! With this gallery, I decided to experiment with a new type of picture gallery. You'll see what I mean. Again, I love feedback, so send me your comments!
With my personal news, last week was my first week of my placement position (z/Linux Application Release Management). 'Twas pretty cool so far. It's going to be slow at first, but when more people hop onto the low-cost Linux bandwagon (yes, I'm talking to all of the TLP developers), I'll have a LOT more responsibility. The week before that, I graduated training! You can find a picture with about two thirds of the graduating TLPs (boo the the people that left early) by clicking on the following links.
TLP group picture
[Monday, September 15, 2003 12:23 AM]
Happy 21st Birthday to my baby Eva Ng!!!
Saturday Night: Took Eva out to The Sea Grill (Zagat F24 D23 S22 C$57 / Pat F22 D23 S20 C$63 / Eva F21 D22 S20 C$0 (haha guess why?)). Riesling is my new favorite white wine (not that I know too many). Afterwards, we met up with Gene and Sue (haha double date) and went to The Bubble Lounge for some bubbly. We got a bottle of something...forgot what it was called. Finally, we all hung out at my place for some more drinks, some cheese & crackers, and candlelight.
Sunday: Got Eva her birthday present! She was the lucky recipient of a Platinum White Goose Down Comforter (850+ Fill Power, 100% Cotton Sateen, 356 Thread Count, Baffled Wall Construction). Then she left, and I had Chinese by myself (Roast Duck, Soy Sauce Chicken, and Steamed Little Juicy Buns).
[Monday, September 1, 2003 3:41 AM]
Labor Day...no work...nice.
Housewarming party went well except for the "rooftop lockout." Hey, it gave us something to talk about though right? Why did that freak occurrence have to happen during my party? Oh well, it was still a great time. To those that made it out, thank you! To those that couldn't make it out, come out to my next party. I'll be having one soon because I have SO much food and drinks leftover. Stay tuned!
[Wednesday, August 27, 2003 11:27 PM]
Housewarming party is coming...
Date: Saturday, August 30th 2003
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Place: The Exchange, 25 Broad Street Apt. 9-D New York, NY 10004. From apt. 9-D, then the rooftop.
Reason: Housewarming! I know I've lived here for two months, but I never actually had a housewarming. My room is finally coming together, so I decided to throw a party!
Bring: Whatever you want, IF you want. Absolute minimum: Bring yourself.
[Tuesday, August 26, 2003 10:35 PM]
Happy 10 months to us...
[Tuesday, August 19, 2003 12:27 AM]
It was a long and eventful weekend. I'll just run through the days and major events.
Thursday: Blackout Day
[Wednesday, August 13, 2003 10:52 PM]
Sorry for not updating for nearly a month! It's amazing how much has happened within such a little time frame. I wish I could tell you everything, but...I can't. I'll just give a general overview of what's happened:
[Friday, July 18, 2003 8:35 AM]
Wednesday was an eventful day. Matt Y. and Pat B. came from hometown South Jersey to visit! I gave them the usual tour of the building, the area, and more. We had an early dinner at a Tex-Mex restaurant called Red at the South Street Seaport (19 Fulton Street, 212.571.5900). Food was okay, service was okay, MUSIC WAS GREAT. I'm going to go back to try and get their mix. Supposedly, it was the manager's mix when he was younger. We'll see...
After dinner, Pat wanted to see the Central Park, so we took the subway up there only to find out that there was a free play of Henry 5 going on! It turns out that Shakespeare in the Park is currently running. We were lucky enough to get good "cancellation" seats. If anyone is interested, check out the show. It runs just about everyday besides Monday (or so it seems).
After the play, I showed Matt and Pat Times Square at night. By the time we got there, it seems everything was already closing or closed. Oh, and for anyone that's from Jersey, the TGIFriday's at Times Square is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Yes, we went to check out the place, but after we saw a Chicken BLT for $16.95 (or something like that), we left (haha). We ended up getting Shish Kebob sandwiches (not the Middle Eastern kind) and a soda at one of those food carts. It was actually pretty good!
By this time, we were all pretty tired, so we went back home. There was a little problem as we were entering the subway. Matt left his car in the parking garage that closed at midnight. We eventually got to the garage around 12:30AM. The only choice we had was to wait or worry. We decided to just wait until the garage opened.
Matt passed out first, while Pat and I took a couple glasses of OJ and a couple of Nature's Valley granola bars up to the rooftop to relax and chat. It was SO nice up there (although a little chilly).
The next morning, we woke up to get Matt's car. It turns out that everything was alright, AND we didn't have to pay extra for parking overnight. This is just one of the many lessons telling me and anyone else reading this that there's no point in worrying.
Pat REALLY wanted to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so we drove back Uptown. The Met didn't open until 10, and it was only 7:40AM by now, so we stopped at Lenny's Café around Columbus and the 70's to grab breakfast (sorry no info for this one). Mind you, Matt had about 4 hours of sleep, Pat said he didn't sleep until 6, (so he had 30 minutes of sleep) and I didn't sleep at all (I couldn't fall asleep). After breakfast, it was still about 8:15AM, so we would have had to wait 1 hour 45 minutes more to go to the Met. Even if we did see the Met, we wouldn't have enjoyed it because we were so tired. SO, we decided to just part. We went back to my place to pick up Pat's stuff. Afterwards, we said our good-bye's and the guys left.
In sum, it was great to see the guys again...although I still haven't seen the rest of the hometown Neyo crew: Kim, Chris, and Brian. I'm waiting for you guys to come visit (if you're reading this)!!!
News about today, Friday, will come soon. There's a lot going on, so come back for the update!
[Tuesday, July 15, 2003 12:47 PM]
Again, another big update. It's hard to keep up with this "life" thing!
I'll start with Friday night: Eva came over around midnight so that we could go see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (guess who picked out the movie?). We were supposed to see the 12:25 AM showing around my area, but ended up seeing a 1:20 showing at Union Square. As an aside, the movie didn't have a great plot, but was actually pretty cool...if you like cool characters with hot powers. Anyway, after the movie, we went to West Village to look for a new belly button ring for Eva. We checked about four stores, but could not find an "agreeable" belly button ring. All that looking made me hungry so we went to eat around there. Eva and I wanted to try something different so we hit up a Middle Eastern fast food place (MacDougal St. & 3rd Avenue I believe)...you know what I'm talking about: Falafels, Shish Kebob sandwiches and platters and such. Surprisingly, everything was really good! At around 5 AM, we went home to sleep...
Saturday: The next day, Eva and I had lunch at this place called Wall Street Café. 'Twas just a place that served fast Italian food (think Sbarro), pizza, deli sandwiches, and salads. The place was just so-so, so I'll just stop talking about it.
We went back to my place to hang out and ended up just falling asleep. After waking up, we ate again! The rest of my lunchmeat, some of my salad, grapes, mango, banana, Smart Start cereal & milk were just some of the things we ate. We pretty much just wanted to get rid of my "perishable food" before it went bad. After eating, we got showered, dressed, and ready to go out. Again, we decided to make it a movie night. We've been wanting to see Finding Nemo, but only the Digital Projection showing, which was only playing at this specific Loews around 31st St. & 2nd Ave. When we got there, we found that the movie was SOLD OUT (it's STILL being sold out at places after being out for awhile!). As a substitute, we saw Terminator 3...which was one of the worst movies ever (in my opinion). Before the movie though, Eva and I went to a little café called Café INdulge across the street from the Loews (561 2nd Ave.). Food was eh...Tiramisu was good! After the movie we walked to K-Town (it was close) and went to Blue to have some Yogurt Soju shots (and an additional Corona for me). Surprisingly, I saw Hyun, Hobie, and Eddie there! It's always great to see old friends at random places. After Blue, we took a cab back to my place to pass out...
Sunday: After waking up we had lunch then got ready for my friend Thom Franchetti's visit. He was driving from South Jersey (he's a hometown friend) and it ended up taking him 3 hours and 20 minutes (approx.) to get to New York City due to heavy traffic. Sorry Thom!
First on our list was FOOD, so we went to Dallas BBQ (I've been here before, but we just felt like having BBQ). They give you so much food at really "budget friendly" prices! GET THEIR WINGS if you go there, trust me. After eating SO much, we walked around the area (East Village) for a place to get drinks. This one lounge, Global 33 (99 2nd Ave, 212.477.8427) was serving up red / white sangrias, cosmos, well drinks, and some other stuff for only $3.00. Atmosphere was typical of a trendy NYC bar / lounge. After one drink, we stopped back at my place to get a car and a bathroom break. Lounge-hopping was the plan for the night, but we hadn't realized it was Sunday night. We stopped by TriBeCa to check out Bubble Lounge and Church Lounge (ratings for both when I'm actually able to enjoy it...but I'll tell you that they are real highly rated). They were both closed (we just missed Church Lounge). We decided to just call Bar 89 (yes, the one with the cool bathrooms), but they were closed also. SO, we went back to where we were before (East Village) and hit up Remote Lounge. THIS place was really cool. There are cameras all over the place that you can control specifically to "check out" other people. Also, you can take a snapshot and send it to their website (http://www.remotelounge.com), then download it later! The drinks were okay...I've had better. Eva got mad because some other Asian girl tried to call me and talk to me. Haha...I just passed the phone over to Thom :T Note: For some reason, my "5 o'clock shadow" came out TOO well in these pictures from Remote Lounge. I DID shave before going out that night. Thom told me I looked Columbian...haha. The Gallery of the Remote Lounge pics are coming soon!
Finally, after Remote Lounge, we went to Gray's Papaya for the Recession Special ($2.45 for two hot dogs and a medium drink). One note of advice to those who haven't been to Gray's Papaya yet: Do NOT get the Papaya drink. The Orange drink or Pina Colada is really good. Also, it's better to pay $2.45 for 2 hot dogs and a drink rather than paying $1.85 for JUST a medium drink. I learned the hard way because first, I bought the Papaya drink with my two hot dogs (Eva and I had one each) and it was horrible. So, I ordered another drink...for $1.85. Oh well.
Monday: Woke up to walk Thom and Eva out to their cars at 6:45 AM (1.5 hours of sleep). Thom left. Eva wanted to stay. Drove around for 2 hours trying to find free parking. Ended up parking at 70th and Amsterdam Streets (Upper West Side) and taking the 1 train to the A train to the M train down to my building. Stayed awake until 11 to order Teriyaki boy for lunch. DELICIOUS. Fell asleep (haha). Woke up with everything clean...thanks to my Eva! Eva left. Played FIFA Soccer 2003 with my roommate. I made dinner (Corned Beef and Rice, Filipino style). Watched Shogun (really really good mini-series). Played more FIFA Soccer 2003 with my roommate. And now updating the site. Day of relaxation...kinda.
Sorry I got a bit impatient with today's events (Monday). This post is way too long. Thanks for reading this whole thing if you did (you stalker). If you did read the whole thing, Sign my guestbook to let me know!
[Friday, July 11, 2003 4:30 AM]
Okay, big update coming up.
Wednesday was a fun day. Gene, Mike (Gene's cousin), Sue, Erica, and Barbara came up to NYC and called me up to have dinner with them (It was great to see you guys again!). The restaurant of choice was Taisho's Yakitori or something like that. I apologize for no knowing the exact name because Sue ran away with my Zagat Guide (haha). That also means that I can't give you guys ratings (if the restaurant is even rated). For now, I'll give you my personal ratings: F17 D5 S10 C$20. The food truly deserves an 18 mostly because of the fact that the restaurant has delicious yakitori (skewered meat). The Decor on the other hand, TRULY deserves a 5 as our party of six ended up way in the 5'x5' back room with another 2 parties...I found myself sitting on a plastic fold up chair while everyone else was sitting on a tiny stool (for the most part). There were, however, very colorful posters in the main room. But hey, they're posters. After Taisho, we headed to get bubble tea at Tea & Tea (there's another one in East Village). Then, I showed the group my building and eventually talked and relaxed at the rooftop...it was SUCH a beautiful night. After some laughs, we got up and went to Ulysses (again, no ratings due to the fact that it just opened like 3 weeks ago), which is around the corner from my building. Also, it's one of the FEW places that are open late in the Financial District. It's ultimately a very nice place to relax. Finally, we parted. To reiterate, it was a fun night...
Thursday (earlier today), I woke up around 2:30PM and immediately began to try to think of something to do. I decided to make myself some dinner. First, I had to go to the store to get some stuff. Jubilee's had what I needed: Balsamic vinaigrette, fresh spinach, and pre-made Italian salad consisting of radicchio, escarole, and red-leaf lettuce (I didn't want to spend a lot of money getting my own fresh vegetables). I went home, pumped up my Miles Davis, broke out my and began cooking. An hour later, I had a very nice meal in front of me: Fried calamari salad with balsamic vinaigrette (with some marinara sauce on the side), a side of baked ziti (leftovers from before that I also made), and some San Pellegrino sparkling water. There was a little summer celebration going on at the wine cellars under my building (there's a restaurant called The Vine at the bottom floor of my building). I really wanted to go because they were offering mixed drinks for only $5.00, but I didn't want to go alone. So, I just showered up and cleaned some more.
Around 10:00PM, my Eva came over and we went out. First we hit up a Spanish restaurant called Alphabet Kitchen (ratings coming as soon as I get them). Food was so-so...approximately an F19 in my opinion. Eva needed to stay awake until 5:00AM to pick up her sister at the airport, so we hit up a bar / café called Simone. Decor was great, but the music sucked. Pecan Pie sucked. Hot apple cider was okay...Eva's cappuccino didn't work. Oh well...
The highlight of the night (besides Eva coming over) was going to Parlay lounge. Supposedly my friend Jay Malari aka DJ Murdah One was spinning (as he's the house DJ for Parlay lounge). Turns out that he was in Cali for the week. BUT...Rex, Carlo, Mark, RJ, CJ, and Jeff, and Tangela were all there (all Rutgers Filipino friends)! That made my night, as I haven't seen them in sooo long. Eva and I finished our drinks, then left to go back to my place. Other than watching a little bit of TV and updating this website, the night was over.
In website news, I decided I'm going to become a food critic AND a chef. By this, I mean I'm going to create a section that will compare my ratings with Zagat's ratings for every restaurant / bar / lounge / club that I visit. Also, I'm going to make a page with my very own recipes. This should help those that are interested get to know me better. Let me know what you think!
[Tuesday, July 8, 2003 7:03 PM]
Have you ever seen the infomercial for the Miracle Blade III Perfection Series? Guess what? Eva got them for me! Whoo! And you know what? They really work! I sliced through a plastic bottle OH so easily. My next purchase is going to be the wood block holder for my knives...and it comes with 4 extra steak knives too! Thanks to my Eva ;) Here's what's included in the set:
[Sunday, July 6, 2003 3:01 AM]
Eva and I went to Baltimore for July 4th! The first thing we did when we got there is EAT! And AGAIN, I had "asian fusion" at this very highly Zagat rated (Baltimore Zagat - F23 D26 S21 C$38) restaurant called Eurasian Harbor (711 Eastern Avenue & President Street, 410.230.9992). This place was great, although I don't think the decor deserves a 26! The area around it is a beauty (Inner Harbor), but the restaurant itself could use more work to be a 26. The food was great. THAT deserves a 23...the Mongolian BBQ pizza on black focaccia bread deserves an F29 by itself!
After eating, we walked around to look for a camera, but everything was closed except the hotel gift shops. We decided we weren't about to get robbed of our money just for a camera, so no camera for us. Anyway, at about 9:30PM, the fireworks started at the Inner Harbor. Honestly, it was pretty sad. hahaha...it was "okay," but I have seen better fireworks shows in South Jersey! Yeah, you get the idea of how "okay" it was. Eva made the event a lot better just by being there.
Then...came the best part. After the fireworks and the traffic from all of the people trying to get OUT of the Inner Harbor, Eva and I headed towards a very "discreet" lounge called Red Maple (the place didn't even have a sign indicating that it was there!). THIS place was pretty hot...I loved the decor and the music. The drinks could use some work, but was acceptable. I'm down to go back to the place with a whole group if anyone wants to go. I'm also down to try some of their "asian tapas" as Eva and I didn't bother to get any since we were still so full.
Anyway, we drove back to South Jersey and slept there. The next morning, we woke up, ate, and went to Shoprite to go grocery shopping. Nothing beats seeing something in South Jersey for a dollar less than I could get it in NYC! Afterwards, we drove up to Cliffside Park, NJ to pick up some of Eva's things then headed out to Vincent's pizzeria, which has some of the best "regular" pizza I've ever had. Try it out (535 Anderson Avenue, Cliffside Park, NJ - 201.945.8625). Then...back to my apartment here in the city...ahhhhhhhhh...
[Friday, July 4, 2003 4:51 AM]
Well, the website is pretty much finished (in my opinion, a website is NEVER finished). I hope everyone likes it, and I hope that it satisfies all of the stalkers out there...because wow...someone can really stalk me just by reading my website. Oh well...content is content, right?
Check out the Odds & Ends section for some very interesting material. You'll find out more about me just by looking at the things I put up there (if you know what I mean). Also, please take the time to visit and sign my Guestbook just to let me know that you were here. Thanks!
About today...it was a really great day! I woke up and hung out around the apartment for awhile. My roommate mentioned something about a game called Civilization III. WHATTAYAKNOW? I had and played the game! So I gave him the CD, and he played. I went to Century 21 to check some stuff out...came back in an hour...he was still playing! Then Gina came over to check out my place...she made reservations to Roy's New York for 7:15pm which is rated F24 D21 S22 C$50 in Zagat!!! (120 Washington Street, between Albany and Carlisle Streets, 212.266.6262. Also, it's a 5 min walk from my apartment!) We left (Roommate was still playing) and both ended up getting the Prix Fixe dinner...
[Wednesday, July 2, 2003 4:58 AM]
The Guestbook is FINISHED! The Odds & Ends page is FINISHED! Be prepared for the site launch soon! (Read the previous post as well to see another current update)
[Wednesday, July 2, 2003 1:07 AM]
It's been a pretty eventful first 3 days at my new apartment! Can't wait to see what else happens here...All I can say is, that I LOVE my new place, and I really like the area...it pretty much has everything I need, plus more! If you want to come visit, just give me a call or E-Mail me. Housewarming party is in planning stages right now, so stay tuned.
In website development news (for those that care), Gallery page will just be opened now, and galleries will be added as I finish them. I'm currently working on the Odds & Ends page and that should be done soon. All that would be left is the guestbook! I'm contemplating on whether to "outsource" that and just download a free guestbook script (or use my old guestbook from Lycos) or write my own guestbook application. We'll see. Regarding the Résumé page, all of my résumé formats have been updated. Check them out!
That's it for now kids, I'll let you know what happens soon! Be prepared for the official launch of this website!
[Sunday, June 29, 2003 6:52 AM]
I'm MOVING in about a couple hours! This is it. Childhood dream #315412389 come true!
Yesterday was a very productive day. I picked up $49 worth of dry cleaning (17 shirts, 10 pants, 1 pair of shorts), got my hair cut, went to A.C. Moore for Eva, made copies for my cable modem rebate, went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to start to check out stuff for my apartment, hit up this "so-so" restaurant called Pasta Cheech (Italian, if you haven't deduced from the name), AND went to Tuscan Tavern with the guys for a drink (Citron & Tonic wasn't that bad). Eva was with me this WHOLE time! Now, I'm about to finish packing, and move on...See ya guys when I get hooked up with my T1 line at the apartment!
[Saturday, June 28, 2003 6:31 AM]
Eva came over today! She drove all the way down here, despite the fact that she has to work all the way up north again tomorrow at 3:30! All for me! Whoo...whatta great gf huh? Oh...did I mention she's driving back down tomorrow night after work to help me pack? Whoo! Speaking of which, countdown is coming to an end for my move to NYC! Whoo!
In website news, I just finished the gallery for Sung's Birthday Party. Go check it out!
Here's a little pic that used to be my main Xanga Pic. Um...Enjoy?
[Friday, June 27, 2003 6:01 AM]
The gallery page is taking a LOT longer than I expected...only because I want it to be really nice. Worked out a lot of kinks in the code to make it seamless, but I'm still not satisfied. If you're interested (which you're probably not, here are the steps in creating just ONE gallery:
[Thursday, June 26, 2003 6:44 AM]
Check out my new place! The Exchange
I'm moving in this coming Sunday. I can't wait!
Details: 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom luxury apartment. Along with the great apartment comes a great guy (hopefully) named Brian. Should be interesting to have a roommate once again (only this time a lot more mature...no offense to my old roomie / homie Brian Kim!). My favorite amenities of the building include a gym with pool and sauna and the GARDEN ROOFTOP! Be prepared to hear from me about a housewarming party that I'm planning to throw up there. Check back here for more updates.
[Thursday, June 26, 2003 6:31 AM]
Construction of this website has begun!