Author Archives: Alan V

Happy New Year

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Given that it’s the first day of a new decade, I feel like I should make a post.
It’ll mostly be a dump of random photos from the past couple weeks.


The security line at SFO on my way out was insane. It wrapped around a ton of times before spilling out to the checkin counters area, where it wrapped around a bit to the left before going out to the right, and extending all the way to the end of the terminal. It took me 90 minutes to get through security. Got to the gate just as my flight was boarding. Bleah.


Decorating Christmas cookies is fun. I’m proud of my snowmen. And my snowmen trees. And my vampire tree/star/present.


Frosting!


Apples to Apples.



Snow! ZOMGZ!


A meat pie that I made. Om nom nom nom.


Fruit pies that I made. Om nom nom nom.


Parcheesi.

I’ve had a nice break. Friends are awesome.

Typing “10” for the year is still freaking me out a little. 2000 seems like only yesterday… and to think I was still in middle school at the time, pondering my high school choices. I feel so very old now.

Happiness

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My best friend gave me the best advice. He said each day’s a gift and not a given right. Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind and try to take the path less travelled. That first step you take is the longest stride.
Against the grain should be a way of life. What’s worth the price is always worth the fight. Every second counts ’cause there’s no second tries. So live like you’ll never live it twice. Don’t take the free ride in your own life.
So do whatever it takes ’cause you can’t rewind a moment this life. Let nothing stand in your way ’cause the hands of time are never on your side.

Life is good. ^_^

Parties

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The past couple days have been filled with parties and food and friends and awesome.

Thursday night was the Dev PPL Potluck at Nate’s house. There was a lot of really good food.

Last night was the Salesforce company party which was spectacular as always. Last year’s was a little better, but that’s primarily because it was held at the Academy of Sciences, where there were tons of exhibits to wander around in, whereas this year’s mostly involved live music and a dance floor.





There was, of course, an abundance of excellent food and an open bar. Had 4 drinks in the first 45 minutes, sipped a fifth over about another half hour, then stopped drinking for a couple hours, finishing with two more drinks before closing. Probably more alcohol than I should have had, but I didn’t get drunk, and was actually completely sober afterward. Not bad.

Afterward we went to Sharon’s for “drunken” rock band, except none of us were drunk. Things got interesting though when Brett took a half-dozen shots (which would be fine on its own, as he’s a very mellow drunk… he just starts failing expert vocals on Rock Band) and Matt came home drunk. There are photos of the resulting chaos; which includes such things as Matt spilling water all over Sharon, Charles spilling water all over Matt and a just-changed Sharon, Matt eating chips and spilling most of them all over Sharon, Brett singing “A Whole New World” while Matt joins in singing about bowls of sour cream and fat, Matt getting his head caught in the blinds, and Matt loudly singing along to “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and jumping around the apartment; but I don’t think I’m allowed to post them. :P
Drunk people are funny.

Coca-Cola Cookies!

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I tried making coke cookies today. They turned out rather strange, actually. Reasonably tasty, but not my first choice in sweet.

5/6 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 c butter
1/8 c sugar
1 egg white
1 can coke

Boil the coke until it is reduced down to less than 1/8 cup. Melt butter and mix melted butter with sugar and egg, and stir in reduced coke. In a separate bowl, mix flour with baking soda and powder. Mix liquid into flour mixture, place onto cookie tray, and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 12 cookies.

For softer cookies, use more butter and/or use the egg yolk instead.

Om nom nom nom. Next time will be root beer and 7-up layer cake. I could frost it with coke frosting. That might be fun.

Life Things

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Life has been pretty awesome lately.

Work has been quiet, for once. Feature freeze was fairly uneventful (with the exception of one issue last weekend).

Today was online games with my college group, and it was really nice.

As far as TV shows go, I finished Roswell and have started on Smallville. I’m halfway through the first season now, and have discovered that watching episodes at 1.4x with subtitles on is far more interesting (the dialog is still quite understandable, but the subtitles are good if I miss something, and I still often read faster than the lines are spoken). I suppose I’m missing out on a lot of subtlety with the actors’ speech and expressions, but it sure does advance the plot a lot quicker.

I guess it goes back to how I speed-read through books for the plot and not details. A good example of this is the last Harry Potter book. We bought it in the early afternoon and I had finished reading it by that evening. I could give a fairly good summary of the plot afterward. However, I missed a ton of details in the process… for example, I didn’t know that Ron and Hermione kissed until I started seeing Facebook groups that included a passage I couldn’t recall reading. Despite it being a fairly significant portion of a page, it was not relevant to the larger happenings at the time (with everyone about to die and all), so my brain (and eyes) skipped right over it.

I suppose as long as they bring me enjoyment it’s fine, but I sometimes wonder if it means I’m often going through life without appreciation for the little things that make it special.

Also, Smallville? Great show.