San Soo Kap San

Location: 38-13 Union St., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Korean
Phone: (718) 445-1165
Prices: about $20/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 2
Value: 7
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

We had a bit of a change on my day off today. Instead of the usual dim sum, I went with my Mom to a Korean restaurant around the corner from the office. she had gone there before with a friend and thought the prices & food were good. those were just about the only things that were good though. For more details on the food, check out my comments on Picasa.


I ripped the service (the lowest rating on this blog so far) because when they brought out the appetizers, my Mom wanted to switch the kim chee for something else because she doesn't eat things that are too spicy. Last time they were here, she was able to switch. But this waiter had a stunned and offended look when she asked. He didn't let us switch it. Instead, he just took the kim chee away. I wouldn't have penalized the rating if he declined politely.

The environment was OK. It was clean and slightly above average, but the acoustics weren't that great. It was also a little on the stuffy side as far as space.

Facebook: Year One

It's been about a year since I started using Facebook actively (I had the account for much longer, but just never used it). I forced myself to get used to the interface because I was studying the environment as we researched widgets for work. In a short period of time, however, I had many of my friends connected and the status updates and notifications really kept everyone in the loop. When I first started using it, Facebook felt awkward to use. Now I'm pretty comfortable with it and made it part of my daily life.

Staying Connected
When I look at my friends list, I think about how I'm a lot more in touch with people I used to not know as well. It's all thanks to the status updates and notifications. They're so inviting and the more my friends use it, the more chance we find things in common and spark conversations. Over the past year, I found myself getting closer to friends and family on Facebook. Those who weren't fell more out of the loop. I also cut down on mass emailing and just posted items and notes instead. I noticed a better response too. I'm still working on getting a few more close friends in!

"Apps" and Widgets
The apps are mostly time-wasters, but still good for interacting with friends and strangers. When I first started using Facebook, I only installed apps based on what I saw in my friends' profiles. I played with many of them for a certain period then uninstalled them after I got bored. The successful ones that got me addicted were the ones that had some sort of reward or challenge each day. They also had to add updates/upgrades every so often to avoid monotony. The ones I stuck with were... (fluff)Friends, Pet Dragons, Greenpatch, Chicago Bulls and Yankees Faithful. (fluff)Friends and Pet Dragons have a lot of interactivity and updates. They're both very much like RPGs. (fluff)Friends also has a great user community. I use Chicago Bulls & Yankees Faithful based on sports season. And Greenpatch is just addicting because of the "earning money" aspect. I am trying to bring myself to uninstall that one though because it takes up a good 10 minutes each day!

Groups & Pages
I also found the groups and pages to be very useful compared to other social networking sites. They had no spam and every post was relevant. There's also a group or page for just about every subject you can think of. I don't visit these a whole lot though... maybe once a month or so, but it's always interesting to post a comment and get feedback from strangers with the same interests.

DVDeals 12/28 - 1/3

DVD Sunday
It's another Sunday release date for new titles. I'm not sure if it's because we're still in the holiday season or if it's a permanent change in the industry. Anyway, it's a straight-to-DVD special fx title this time... Resident Evil: Degeneration. Circuit City has the best price at $17.99. It's $19.99 everywhere else.

Best Buy Deals
- Mummy Returns for $6.99
- A Knight's Tale for $6.99
- Fearless for $6.99
- Jerry Maguire for $6.99

Circuit City Deals
- Batman: Dark Knight for $14.99
- Stargate: Continuum for $12.99
- AVP-R for $12.99

Target Deals
- Family Guy: Seasons 1-6 for $16.99 each
- Batman: Dark Knight for $14
- Narnia: Prince Caspian for $14
- Wall-E for $14

Christmas Day

The festivities and eating continued for the 2nd day in a row. Christmas Day was at Warren & Susan's apartment. They were able to reserve the basement party room (same place as their housewarming party). We were there from about 1pm-5pm.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve

We just had a small family gathering for Christmas Eve dinner this year. The schedule was a bit tight. Because it fell on a Wednesday this year, everyone had work. I had a last minute plumbing problem in my building. Main St., Flushing was also packed with shoppers, but we all made it!

DVDeals 12/21 - 12/27

DVD Sunday
Because of the holidays, new titles will be released today instead of Tuesday. The new release for the week is Death Race and Circuit City has it much lower than other stores @ $14.99. I never saw this movie, but might want to get it just for the cars and special effects.

Best Buy Deals
- Batman: Dark Knight for $14.99
- Star Wars: Clone Wars for $14.99
- Wall-E for $14.99
- Kung Fu Panda for $14.99
- Spiderman for $4.99
- Spiderman 2 for $4.99
- Terminator Season 1 for $12.99

Circuit City Deals
- Die Hard for $3.99
- Aliens for $3.99
- Speed for $3.99
- War for $6.99

Budget HTPC (Part 2)

Controls

Since the HTPC is a good 13-14' away from the sofa, a standard mouse and keyboard couldn't cut it. I had to look into wireless options. There are a lot out there and the mainstream brands are very expensive. I found a good keyboard on Directron that had a built-in joystick to act as a mouse ($37)... not many keyboards have this option. It was a requirement for me though because I wanted it to be something that fully controlled the computer while resting on my lap. I also shopped for a wireless mouse ($15) for occasions when I need more precision.

Shopping List

1. Keyboard - I suggest looking at the no-name brands for a keyboard that has a built-in joystick, trackpad or trackball. If you go with Microsoft or Logitech, you'll find yourself spending over $100. I ended up getting the BTC 9019URFIII and it works just as well if not better than the $150 Logitech Dinovo Edge.

2. Mouse - In an HTPC, you won't be using the mouse for the entire time, so you don't need a full-sized desktop mouse. The best option is to get a notebook laser mouse. It should be laser because you'll probably use it on many surfaces... might not always have a mousepad handy in the living room. Some good options are the Logitech V450 Nano ($40 regular, $15-20 sale) and Gigaware wireless laser ($50 regular, $25 sale). Both of these have small dongles that won't get in the way.

Final Cost
My final cost was about $275 but that involved Black Friday deals and existing parts. It would just cost a little more if you built one today based on my shopping lists... maybe around $350, but not more than $400.

Pistilli Grand Manor

I checked out a brand new condo my Mom was showing earlier in the day. Being used to the new wave of cheap, cramped and expensive Flushing apartments, I was surprised to see that this one was well constructed. The materials and craftsmanship were good. The walls were solid. Each unit was very spacious. Unlike Flushing where 2 bedrooms includes one medium room and one tiny room, this building actually had units with 2 huge rooms.


There was a trade off though... it's not near a subway station!

Budget HTPC (Part 1)

The Core

A media center PC can cost $500-$1000 if you go out to the store to buy one. However, in my opinion, it's really not necessary to do that. Older systems are very capable of operating as a home theater PC (HTPC)... especially if you're building something for a 720p TV. Buying a new dual-core or quad-core system with all of the latest parts is overkill unless you plan to do video editing and Photoshop work on your TV. In this series of posts, I'm going to write about the system I built for my parents' new 52" LCD.

This project started on Thanksgiving weekend and I was able to find a lot of Black Friday sales related to parts I needed. I started with the small form-factor IBM system from my apartment. I replaced the hard drive with something much larger... going from the default 40 GB to a 500 GB model ($35 @ Directron... FREE shipping). That had plenty of room for a bunch of DVDs and DivX movies. I also had a bunch of spare parts that I added to the system... a 802.11g wireless PCI card ($10 after a rebate offer) and USB 2.0 PCI card (FREE after a rebate offer) to fill up the 2 available slots.

Shopping List

1. System - First, you'll need a small form-factor system... something that will fit into your TV stand. It should also be energy efficient and relatively cool since it will be on a lot and could be in an enclosed space (depending on the type of stand you have). For good off-lease system, check out the IBM ThinkCentre S50 or Dell Optiplex GX series from PC Exchange. They're both Pentium 4 systems. For any system you order, get the highest possible RAM option and upgrade to a DVD-ROM if it has a CDROM by default. Leave the hard drive because you'll want a 500 GB or higher.

2. Hard Drive - Get a 500 GB or larger drive because you're going to store large movie files on it. It should be hi-speed... at least 7200 rpm, large cache, SATA is possible (IDE should still be OK).

3. Network - The best option is to connect via ethernet to your hi-speed Internet connection. The video throughput is much higher than wireless. If not possible, 802.11g actually works OK. With the HTPC I built, I was able to stream an episode of Terminator without any problems.

4. USB 2.0 Ports - If the system doesn't have a lot of these by default, you should add an additional card since you'll probably have a need to add media drives and connect cameras in the future.

DVDeals 12/14 - 12/20

DVD Tuesday
There are a couple of editions of Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to keep an eye out for this Tuesday. Circuit City has the best price for the regular edition at $14.99. The 2-disc special edition w/ digital copy is $22.99 everywhere. The trilogy box set is cheapest at Amazon... $38.99. What's unclear is whether the set includes 3 regular edition movies or special edition ones.

Best Buy Deals
In addition to the sale prices, you also get a $20 gift card if you buy 5 of these.
- 2 Fast 2 Furious for $9.99
- Casino Royale for $9.99
- Spiderman 3 for $9.99
- Resident Evil: Extinction for $9.99
- Bourne Ultimatum for $9.99
- Fearless for $9.99

Emily's B-Day & More Sentosa

For Emily's family birthday party, we went to her favorite Flushing restaurant, Sentosa. My opinion on this restaurant is still the same. It's consistently been one of the best for years. For my full review, see the May entry. We got the restaurant early so we could secure a large table and beat the crowd. Sentosa fills up quickly for dinner, especially on a Saturday night. But getting there before 6 guarantees a spot.


After dinner, we headed over to my parents' house for dessert, tea and the Bulls game.

Related: Sentosa: Full Review, Sentosa: Addendum

Hancock

Story: 4
Action: 6
Acting: 7
FX: 7
Durability: 2

Based on the trailer, I was expecting Hancock to be a comedy about an unconventional superhero. Instead, the movie really wasn't a sci-fi flick, wasn't really a comedy nor a kid's superhero movie. The story was very simple and the origins of the 2 superhumans were never fully explained. There was almost no point to the movie. Hancock was a man with super powers and amnesia. He would go around and sloppily try to help people, but cause more destruction in the process. He gets PR guy to help him with his image, but later it turned out that the PR guy's wife was his wife through many ages. The way it worked was their powers would deplete when together and increase when apart. If you watch the movie, you'll notice that the power & proximity factor is inconsistent through the story.

Though it had good points like the special fx and action, the simplistic story overshadowed everything else. I'm glad I didn't end up buying this one!

Nan Shian Dumpling House

Location: 38-12 Prince St., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Chinese
Phone: (718) 321-3838
Prices: about $9/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 6
Environment: 3

Frequency: Unique

I did the usual lunch thing with my parents on my day off and covered a new restaurant today. Auntie Kim mentioned Nan Shian Dumpling House before and my Mom ate there a couple of times. This was my first time to compare it to Joe's Shanghai.

I'll get right to the specialty from the start... the Xiao Long Bao (soup dumpling). It was much more expensive at Nan Shian. The crab was $6.25 for 6 dumplings and the pork $5.25 for 6. I don't remember the price at Joe's, but it was definitely under $5 for 8 dumplings. I didn't taste anything special with the premium price. They were also slightly smaller than their competition. So Joe's Shanghai wins by a longshot. The other dishes were better at Nan Shian though. We had pork chop noodle soup and Shanghai pan fried noodles. Aside from the taste, the portions were pretty small and lacked contents. The noodle soup had 2 pieces or pork chop. The fried noodles was supposed to have strips of meat in it, but I found very little. Another noteworthy thing about the food is that not all of the appetizers are available every day... only what you see in the cart they have up front.

The service was OK... no complaints. The value was just OK because they lost to Joe's Shanghai significantly on prices. If Joe's Shanghai is THE soup dumpling restaurant, one should expect places that haven't been around as long to have lower prices.

The restaurant space was clean and well maintained, but was extremely cramped. There was no elbow room and tables have to be shared. There was also no heat, which felt pretty uncomfortable at first, but luckily we had a hot soup in our order.

The overall menu was good, but I can't see a reason to come to Nan Shian Dumpling House if the driving force is a craving for soup dumplings. I'll just head to Joe's every time!

DVDeals 12/7 - 12/13

DVD Tuesday
Batman: Dark Knight comes out this Tuesday and almost each store has a different exclusive offer. Just for the movie itself though, Best Buy and Circuit City are tied at $14.99 for the regular edition. Amazon is the clear winner at $20.99 for the 2-disc special edition that includes a digital copy. At Best Buy, you get an exclusive Joker card when you buy any edition. If you get the special edition, you get a Batman or Joker mask. At Target, you get an exclusive Batman mask box with the special edition. Circuit City has a logo journal with the special edition.

Best Buy Deals
- X2 for $4.99
- Batman: Gotham Knight for $4.99
- Transformers for $4.99
- Matrix for $4.99

Circuit City Deals
- Batman: Gotham Knight for $9.99
- Superman: Doomsday for $9.99
- Batman Begins for $6.99
- Superman for $6.99
- Superman III for $6.99
- Blade for $6.99
- Blade II for $6.99
- Matrix for $6.99
- Aeon Flux for $7.99
- Coming to America for $7.99
- Spiderman for $7.99
- Spiderman 2 for $7.99
- Ghost Rider for $7.99
- XXX for $7.99
- Patriot for $7.99
- The One for $7.99

Perlas ng Silangan

Location: 69-09 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Filipino
Hours: MON-TUE (11am-10pm); WED-THU (11am-12am); FRI (11am-2am); SAT (8am-2am); SUN 8am-10pm)
Phone: (718) 779-3272
Website: www.perlasnewyork.com
Prices: about $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 5

Frequency: Uncommon

Our December dinner tonight celebrated Emily & Ben's Birthdays. We wanted to go for Filipino, but couldn't choose Ihawan because of it's early closing hours. I looked up the hours for Perlas ng Silangan and they close at 2am! It was a bit of a risk because I only ate here once and it wasn't that great. Still, I thought it was worth reevaluating because I had the buffet during a wedding reception. I was very impressed with the regular sit-down meal here and it even rivals Ihawan in taste. Please click on the photos in the slideshow for more detailed descriptions of the dishes.


The restaurant space was pretty comfortable, especially for a location on Roosevelt Ave. in Woodside. Typically, restaurants on that street are very cramped. The space an acoustics made up for the lack of decor and poorly maintained bathrooms.

The service was good overall. The staff handled the large order without error. They were confused at first when we mentioned that we wanted to order family style. I was surprised by that because I would think most people eat that way here. The bill was also accurate and sans mistakes.

So it seems like we have a new favorite Filipino restaurant and could see this place a lot more in the future. Their schedule and location are perfect for our monthly gatherings.

Holiday Gift Ideas

The holiday shopping season kicked off with Black Friday. So now that the bonus bargains are over, it's time to get into the heart of the gift list. Here are a few original ideas offered by some of my friends:

Yarnyums
Last year, Jene Wallace was selling handmade soaps, but she switched craft hobbies and is now crocheting food items. It sounds odd, but they make original gifts and have a visual appeal to them. All items are original patters. Click here to shop.

Wonderham's Super Secret Stash
Wonderham is a great character that stars in a single panel Online comic created by James Li. He has Cafe Press stores with various products depicting everyone's favorite hamster. Click here to shop.

A Ma$tamind Christmas 3
This is Shawn Noel's 3rd X-mas album. Not only does this make an original gift, but be sure to get one for yourself for background music if you're hosting a party. Click here to shop.

Pinoy Superstore
Have family on the Philippines? Richard Ng's service makes overseas gift giving much easier. His Online store has a wide variety of items. They come at a premium, but the shopping and shipping is done for you. No need to worry about unpredictable shipping delays. Click here to shop.

DVDeals 11/30 - 12/6

DVD Tuesday
I never saw Wanted, but it looks like a great special fx movie... one where the fx could save a bad story. It's the same price at Circuit City and Best Buy... $15.99 for the regular edition and $22.99 for the 2-disc special edition w/ digital copy. Prince Caspian will also be released this Tuesday and Circuit City wins the price war for the regular edition... $14.99. The special 3-disc edition is the cheapest by far at Amazon for $22.99.

Best Buy Deals
- Clone Wars for $13.99
- Forbidden Kingdom for $13.99
- Stargate: Continuum for $13.99

Circuit City Deals
- Unleashed for $6.99
- 2 Fast 2 Furious for $6.99
- Superman II for $6.99
- Troy for $6.99
- Bourne Identity for $6.99
- Bourne Supremacy for $6.99
- Jurassic Park for $6.99
- Van Helsing for $6.99
- Pan's Labyrinth for $6.99
- Rundown for $6.99
- Fast & Furious for $6.99
- Family Guy: Blue Harvest for $6.99

Thanksgiving

I was looking forward to Thanksgiving more this year than any other since we missed it last year. When I think back, that may have been the only year we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

DVDeals for Black Friday

Because of the economy, we're seeing some Black Friday prices all week long in an attempt to get people shopping. Even some of the DVD prices for Friday aren't spectacular, but still good. Here's what I was able to gather from my usual stores:

Best Buy Deals
- 300 for $6.99
- Alien vs. Predator for $6.99
- Batman Begins for $4.99
- Beowulf for $4.99
- Doomsday for $9.99
- Family Guy: Seasons 1-5 for $14.99 each
- Fantastic Four for $4.99
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for $4.99
- Ghost Rider for $4.99
- Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay for $9.99
- I Am Legend for $6.99
- Live Free Or Die Hard for $6.99
- Night At The Museum for $4.99
- Pan's Labyrinth for $4.99
- Rambo for $6.99
- Seinfeld Season 1 & 2 for $14.99
- Seinfeld Season 3-9 for $14.99 each
- Shrek 2 for $4.99

Circuit City Deals
- Beowulf: Director's Cut for $5.99
- Braveheart: Special Collector's Edition for $5.99
- Charlie's Angels: Unrated for $3.99
- Daredevil for $3.99
- Family Guy: Freakin' Sweet Collection for $2.99
- Family Guy: Seasons 1-5 for $14.99 each
- Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer for $3.99
- I, Robot for $3.99
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith for $5.99
- Riddick for $3.99
- Robots for $3.99
- Rocky IV for $3.99
- South Park: Seasons 1-4 for $9.99 each
- Spiderman 2 for $3.99
- Spiderman for $3.99
- The Happening for $9.99
- Transformers for $5.99
- Van Helsing for $3.99
- Vantage Point for $9.99
- X2 for $3.99
- X3 for $3.99

DVDeals 11/23 - 11/29

DVD Tuesday
Hancock will be coming out this Tuesday in 3 editions... regular, unrated & 2-disc unrated. The single disc editions are cheapest @ Circuit City for $14.99. The 2-disc set is the same price everywhere for $22.99.

Best Buy Deals
- Robots for $3.99
- Underworld for $3.99

Circuit City Deals
- Tomb Raider for $2.99
- Family Guy: Freakin' Sweet Collection for $2.99
- Planet of the Apes for $2.99
- The Saint for $2.99
- Rush Hour for $6.99
- I Am Legend for $6.99
- Ocean's Thirteen for $6.99
- 300 for $6.99
- Golden Compass for $6.99

Gallery Expresso

Original Dates: 1993-1997

I started going to Starbucks to use their wireless connection just for a change of scenery. It's an interesting atmosphere too... one that takes me back to the college days.

I would go to Gallery Expresso all the time to study for an art history class or to work on sketches. I enjoyed that place for the environment. It was an artist's coffee house. The lighting was dim, but enough to read a book. They had wood floors and brick walls. It always reminded me of an Edgar Degas painting... same mood... same colors.

I just looked up the place on Google and 2 addresses came up. The one on 6 E. Liberty St. seems the the right location. I lived on Liberty after my freshman year and went a lot more often. The other address that came up was 234 Bull St. I remember clearly that it wasn't on Bull St., but this owns the URL... www.galleryexpresso.com. So it's also possible that they moved into a larger space. Maybe some day I'll find out if I ever go back!

Jollibee is COMING SOON!

I mentioned last year, during my Philippines visit that Jollibee probably didn't really break into the American market (except California) because of a difference in taste that may not be appealing to the overseas crowd. I was always surprised that there was no New York location though. Every cuisine seems to find it's place in this diverse city. There's a large Filipino community in Woodside and I always thought Jollibee would also match the Latino tastes.

After dinner at SriPraPhai the other night, Emily & I came across a construction site on the way to the 61st St. station. Jollibee posters were plastered all over the wooden boards covering the building being renovated. That's right... Philippines' #1 fast food chain is finally coming to NY! After 33 years in the business, it's finally happening. Better late than never!


I couldn't find an official opening date announced anywhere, but it seems like late 2008. They already posted available positions (above), so it could be any time now.

Aladdin

A True Classic

Every month in church, the priest plans out a Children's lesson. This was a new thing starting last month. He would talk about a popular children's movie and connect the moral of the story to something in life or a Bible teaching. Today's choice was Aladdin and how the title character learned to trust and believe in himself. What actually amazed me was the movie choice and how all of the kids in mass were able to answer the priest's questions about the movie's characters and plot. Why? Aladdin was released in 1992 and was a huge hit. And now, 16 years later, every kid still knows it.

Back in 1992, I was a junior in high school and bought the collector's edition of Aladdin because I was starting to study animation. At the time, it, along with Beauty and the Beast were revolutionary in American animation. They were smooth, multi-layer and made use of computer graphics. I'm glad this classic story and important part of computer art history is living on in the next generation.

DVDeals 11/16 - 11/22

DVD Tuesday
Disney's Wall-E is the only worthy new release this coming Tuesday. The regular edition is $14.99 everywhere. The 3-disc edition is $27.99 @ Circuit City, $2 less than Best Buy. It seems like they're charging a premium for the 3rd disc... a digital copy. Special editions are normally $20-22.

Best Buy Deals
- Matrix Quadruple Feature for $9.99
- Steven Segal Quadruple Feature for $9.99
- Sylvester Stallone Quadruple Feature for $9.99
- Superman Quadruple Feature for $9.99
- Batman Begins for $6.99
- Troy for $6.99
- Spiderman for $6.99
- Underworld Evolution for $6.99
- Family Guy: Stewie the Untold Story for $6.99

Circuit City Deals
- Kung Fu Panda for $14.99
- Iron Man for $14.99
- The Happening for $14.99
- South Park Movie for $6.49
- Team America for $6.49

SriPraPhai

Location: 64-13 39th Ave., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Thai
Hours: SUN-TUE & THU-SAT (11:30am-9:30pm); WED (closed)
Phone: (718) 899-9599
Prices: about $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 8
Service: 4
Value: 7
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

We all met up this month to celebrate Charlotte & Marites' November Birthdays. This time, we went with SriPraPhai, one of the best Thai restaurants in the city. I got there around 7pm to get a table as the place was packed. They handed out numbers that were displayed on an electronic sign when a spot freed up. We got in at about 7:25, which was perfect timing because Jeff & Ben got out of work late. So everyone was there when they called our number.


The food was great. It's definitely up to par with the Thai restaurants on 9th Avenue. I didn't get to compare my "test" dishes because I was reeled in by their soft-shelled crab offerings, but their coconut rice is the best I've had. I'll even put it above Sentosa's.

The service was pretty bad. Initially, they got 3 out of the 8 orders right. I also ordered an iced coffee that was overwritten my the ice tea order that came after me. The bill was also had to decipher. There were a bunch of note papers written in Thai and the receipt didn't have the item listings on it. When thinking back on this, I'm pretty sure they padded the bill.

The value was good. The individual items were fairly cheap, but one look at their menu will have you ordering many things!

The environment was very nice. They just recently expanded to the space next door, doubling their seating capacity. It was surprisingly pleasant to eat there despite the full house. The restroom was clean and very sanitary. They had an electronic toilet seat cover that changed itself by activating an infrared sensor. I think every restaurant should install one of these.

I'm sure I'll be back at this place again. There are many other things to try out and a good chance for them to improve their service rating. Charlotte said that they're not normally as bad as tonight. It was busy and they had a lot of new staff members.

For more comments and descriptions of the gathering, check out the individual photos I uploaded to Picasa.

Gala Manor Banquet Hall

I had lunch with my parents and family friends, Uncle Foo & Auntie Remy. It was an interesting lunchtime. We got there early and my parents were waiting in the car as I walked around. A cop came by and pointed out that the registration was expired, but was nice enough not to give my dad a ticket. So he drove the car back to his office and walked back to the restaurant.


As I waited in the lobby with my Mom, we saw a couple of teachers bring in a class of about 20 kids for a class trip. Lucky kids... my teachers never took me to a dim sum class trip!

For a full review of Gala Manor Banquet Hall, please visit my post from last year. All of the ratings are the same.

Charlotte's Birthday

We got together at East Buffet for the family edition of Charlotte's Birthday. We had 2 tables during lunch time and it wasn't as crowded as it used to be in there, which made it more comfortable to walk around. After a few rounds of good old junk food, we headed over to Uncle Rupert's house to watch Charlotte open her gifts.


For more comments and descriptions of the party, check out the individual photos I uploaded to Picasa.

East Buffet (Main Street)

Location: 42-07 Main St., Flushing, NY 11355
Cuisine: Chinese, Buffet
Phone: (718) 353-6333
Website: www.eastbuffet.us
Prices: about $15/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food:
American: 3
Chinese: 7
Japanese: 6
Italian: 0
Desserts: 4
Drinks: 0

Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 9

Frequency: Common

East is the chain that sort of standardized Chinese buffets. I don't think they're the best, but they're one of the better ones and always a safe bet. Their name is the most well-known in this category. The food is good overall. While they don't have the variety of Harvest Buffet or Century Diner Buffet, the Mongolian BBQ bar and Peking Duck stand are unique. The sushi isn't bad, but could use some more variety. American & Italian selections were lacking, but then again, that's not the primary reason people come here. Drink are not included and they don't have any specialties like bubble tea or smoothies.

Service and environment, as expected are great since they've been doing this for a long time and have a good system in place.

DVDeals 11/9 - 11/15

DVD Tuesday
It's a special fx bonanza this week with the releases of Clone Wars, Hellboy II and Kung Fu Panda. Clone Wars is cheapest at Best Buy for $15.99. The 2-disc version is the same everywhere... $22.99. Hellboy II is also a tie... $22.99 for the 3-disc edition. The regular edition was unlisted. Kung Fu Panda is cheapest at Circuit City for $14.99.

Circuit City Deals
- Van Helsing for $6.99
- Jurassic Park for $6.99
- Jurassic Park II for $6.99
- Jurassic Park III for $6.99
- Chronicles of Riddick for $6.99
- Doom for $6.99

Best Buy Deals
- The Mist for $9.99
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith Unrated for $9.99
- i, Robot for $9.99
- Black Hole for $5.99

Into the Seasons

This week has been a lot busier than normal with my election adventure on Tuesday, volunteer tutoring (will likely cover in a future post) on Wednesday and Auntie Kim's Into the Seasons exhibition last night.


The last time Auntie Kim had a show in Manhattan was 2 years ago in the same place, Synagogue for the Arts on White St. I headed there after work with colleague and fellow artist, Richard. It was a different path than I took last time, so we were disoriented after exiting the PATH train to the WTC, but we eventually made the long trek on Church St. after figuring out which way north was! The exhibition had a pretty good turnout. It seemed like there were more people there than when we did it 2 years ago during the TriBeCa Film Festival. Hopefully the right people see it.

Please click on the slideshow for full resolution photos and further comments.

Related: KimEngYeo.com, Synagogue for the Arts

Election Day

I really wanted to vote first thing in the morning just to get it over with, but there was a problem with my registration. I submitted and address change about a month before the deadline. It didn't go through when I checked Online though. I was still in the system, but listed under an old address... 2 addresses ago. So I rushed out of work as soon as we closed and headed to Queens. When I got there, I wasn't listed under that district either! But I was able to fill out a card and hand in my vote.

Yun Tian Lou

Frequency: Common

This is an update to my full review on August 9, 2008. Since then, I've eaten there about 2-3 times. All of the ratings remain the same. The Peking Duck and other dishes still tasted great. One tip though, is to eat here with 6 or more people. The combo for 5 or less people is 1/2 of the duck +4 dishes. For 6+ people, it's the full duck +5 dishes. Honestly though, both plans are just right. I just felt the 1/2 duck looked small since it's their best dish! A new dish we tried today was the ox tail. I thought it was well prepared with tender meat and an original taste. It doesn't beat the Filipino kare kare though.

Today I used their restroom, so I can give that a proper review. It's constructed out of nice materials, but it needs to be better maintained. The floor was wet. The sink and toilet areas were a bit untidy. At the time, they had 3 customers and a lot of staff not doing much. Someone could've been cleaning things up!

DVDeals 11/2 - 11/8

DVD Tuesday
This Tuesday, a bunch of nice boxed sets will be released in preparation for the holiday season. Here's the list from Best Buy:
- Batman: The Animated Series Complete for $74.99
- Star Wars Trilogy (6-disc set) for $34.99
- Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (6-disc set) for $34.99
- Bourne Trilogy for $24.99

Best Buy Deals
- South Park Seasons 1-10 for $19.99 each
- Mind of Mencia Seasons 1-3 for $12.99 each
- Drawn Together Seasons 1-3 for $12.99 each
- Chapelle's Show Seasons 1-2 for $12.99 each
- Superman: Doomsday for $9.99
- Batman: Gotham Knight for $9.99
- Batman Beyond Season 3 for $14.99
- Justice League Season 2 for $22.99

Circuit City Deals
- Bourne Identity for $6.99
- Bourne Supremacy for $6.99

End of Year Preview

I haven't posted for a while, but I'm still here! The last couple of weeks were just slow as far as personal events. Things will be picking up a lot during the next 2 months. There are a bunch of birthday events and gatherings. Here's a brief rundown:

- 11/6 - Into the Seasons Reception [click here for details]
- 11/9 - Charlotte's Birthday
- 11/14 - 3rd Monthly Dinner
- 11/24 - Mom's Birthday
- 11/27 - Thanksgiving
- 11/28 - Black Friday (hopefully I can post some DVD sales beforehand)
- 12/3 - Ben's Birthday
- 12/11 - Emily's Birthday
- 12/24 - X-mas Eve
- 12/25 - X-mas Day
- 12/27 - Chinese Association Holiday Party

DVDeals 10/19 - 10/25

DVD Tuesday
There are ads everywhere featuring Incredible Hulk, but I'd rather write about Family Guy: Season 6. Circuit City wins as usual, listing it for $24.99. In most other places, it's $2 more. Target has an exclusive collector's edition for $29.99, which includes a poster and signed script.

Best Buy Deals
- AVP for $6.99
- Resident Evil: Extinction for $6.99
- Family Guy: Seasons 1-5 for $22.99 each
- Alien for $4.99
- Aliens for $4.99
- Jaws for $4.99
- Jurassic Park for $4.99

Circuit City Deals
- Rundown for $6.99
- Terminator for $6.99
- Bourne Identity: Extended Ed. for $6.99
- Unleashed for $6.99
- Van Helsing for $6.99
- Fast & Furious for $6.99
- 2 Fast 2 Furious for $6.99

Atlantic City

My Mom & I took Auntie Janice to Atlantic City for her birthday this year. This time around, we took the bus to Caesar's Palace instead of Resorts Casino. The cost of the trip was $17 + $2 tip for the driver. You get a $25 coupon when you enter the casino. So it wasn't as great a bargain as last time, but the upside about landing at Caesar's is that it's near a lot of other shopping areas. There's a nice mall just across the boardwalk. Towards the front of the building are streets of factory outlets.


For more comments and descriptions of the trip, check out the individual photos I uploaded to Picasa.

Wesley's Playhouse

It's been a while since we visited Cindy and Wil out in Long Island. It's a lot different than the last time too because Wesley has acquired tons of large toys from various occasions. It's almost like the house is Wesley's and the master bedroom is Cindy and Wil's designated area!

DVDeals 10/12 - 10/18

DVD Tuesday
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be coming out this Tuesday, so it will be followed by sales of all of the previous movies and other movies starring Harrison Ford. The latest movie is cheapest at Circuit City at $13.99. The 2-disc edition is $22.99 everywhere.

Best Buy Deals
- Forbidden Kingdom for $14.99
- Ironman for $14.99
- Hero for $5.99
- Chicago for $5.99

Circuit City
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for $9.99
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for $9.99
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for $9.99
- Die Hard for $6.99
- Matrix for $6.99
- Saving Private Ryan for $6.99
- Hard Boiled for $6.99
- Speed for $6.99
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for $6.99
- Bourne Supremacy for $6.99
- Clear and Present Danger for $4.99
- Patriot Games for $4.99
- Top Gun (special edition) for $4.99
- Minority Report for $4.99
- Aeon Flux for $4.99
- Italian Job for $4.99

Mantis

I usually don't like loading multiple large photos into a single post, but it's not everyday that I come across a praying mantis.

El Mariachi

Location: 67-12 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Mexican
Phone: (718) 335-6744
Prices: about $15/person

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

Today was the first of our new monthly gatherings. After meeting in the Woodside are last month, I thought I'd pull the gang together around once a month. It was a good location for everyone to get to after work because it's between Manhattan and Flushing. I scouted the area last weekend and came up with El Mariachi because the menu looked good and they had a decent looking interior. We had a pretty good turnout too. Emily, Jennifer, Ben, Reinhard & Marites were able to make it.


Everyone enjoyed the gathering. The food was good for the most part, save the detergent flavor in half of Marites' sandwich. For more details, check out my comments in the Picasa album. The restaurant had a very relaxing environment. We were one of two customers in there and they didn't close as early as Ihawan (8:30pm). In fact, they close at 3am, so I imagine business picks up later on.

Mulan

Location: 136-17 39th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Chinese
Hours: Daily (11:30am-11pm)
Phone: (718) 88-MULAN
Website: www.mulan-restaurant.com
Prices: about $20/person (3-course lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 9
Value: 7
Environment: 10

Frequency: Unique

Mulan has been in Flushing, along with it's building, Queens Crossing but for some reason I've never been inside it until today. A friend of my parents took them to this restaurant a couple of weeks ago and they were pretty happy with the results. So I checked it out with them today instead of our usual dim sum runs. Mulan is definitely unique for the Flushing area. It's pricier than the other restaurants around town, but still good for what it offers.


The food was great overall. Not one item was disappointing. At first, I thought the portions were a bit on the small side, but it turned out to be just right for a 3-course meal. For further details on the dishes we ordered, check out the individual photos in the Picasa album.

The environment & decor was amazing. It was comparable to Linden Place, so I gave it a 10. There is a strange thing about the men's room though. It was clean and all, but the location and building materials for the men's stall was very odd. The entrance door lines up with the stall entrance... and the stall door is translucent! I don't think anyone will perform egestion in there!

Service was great as they had plenty of staff for the number of customers around. It's had to judge this on a weekday though. I'd like to see what it would be like under weekend lunch conditions.

DVDeals 10/5 - 10/11

DVD Tuesday
The Happening is coming out this week. I always thought it looked interesting, but never got a chance to watch it. They've been marketing it as "M. Night Shyamalan's first rated R film." Whenever I hear that, I have to think back to everything he's done and am always surprised that all of his previous movies were PG-13. The best price on The Happening is $16.99 at Circuit City and Best Buy.

Circuit City Deals
- South Park Movie for $3.99
- TMNT for $3.99
- Team America for $3.99
- War of the Worlds for $3.99
- Blade for $3.99
- John Q for $3.99

Frommers.com Community

Here's what I've been working on for the past 4 months at the office:


We went up on October 1 and it was a surprisingly smooth transition. I scripted all of the changes to transition from our old system to Pluck in Perl. There were no server issues and no downtime.

Related: My Community Profile, Dragonsaber News, Frommers.com Community, Pluck Sitelife

DVDeals 9/28 - 10/4

DVD Tuesday
This week has mostly comic book related titles on sale to highlight the release of Iron Man. Circuit City has the lowest price for the regular edition @ $13.99. The 2-disc collector's edition is $22.99 at both Circuit City and Best Buy.

Best Buy Deals
- Invincible Iron Man for $4.99
- Ultimate Avengers for $4.99
- Ultimate Avengers 2 for $4.99
- Doctor Strange for $4.99
- Blade for $4.99
- Nick Fury for $14.99
- Family Guy Seasons 1-2 for $29.99 each
- Lois & Clark Seasons 1-4 for $16.99 each

Circuit City Deals
- Italian Job for $4.99
- Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life for $4.99
- Top Gun for $4.99
- Mission Impossible for $4.99
- M: i-2 for $4.99
- Days of Thunder for $4.99
- Minority Report for $4.99
- The Island for $4.99

Birthdays

When I think of Birthdays, I imagine parties with a lot of kids, funny looking hats, junk food and presents. It's ironic that we, as adults end up celebrating our birthdays more. When we were kids, a birthday lasted one day. It was usually one day with everyone over. Now there's usually, a family gathering, night out with friends, maybe another day with different friends, work people, etc. Here are pictures from the family edition of my Birthday:


Be sure to click on the slideshow to access the Picasa Web album for more details and hi-res photos.

8th Avenue Fall Festival

The Fall Festival was a bit different than the Summer 9th Avenue Food Festival. Some of the vendors were the same, but this one had more gift stands than food.


Be sure to click on the slideshow to access the Picasa Web album for more details on my walk from 54th St. to 42nd St.

Related: Metal Park, NYC Street Fair Schedule

DVDeals 9/21 - 9/27

Circuit City Deals
- Family Guy Seasons 3-5 for $19.99 each
- Tin Man for $14.99
- What Women Want for $6.99
- Tiffany's for $6.99
- Fantastic 4 (w/ digital copy) for $9.99
- X3 (w/ digital copy) for $9.99
- i, Robot (w/ digital copy) for $9.99
- Die Hard (w/ digital copy) for $9.99

Best Buy Deals
- Moulin Rouge for $6.99
- Independence Day (w/ digital copy) for $14.99

Ihawan

Emily & Charlotte got a bunch of our friends together for my Birthday. Some of us were coming from Manhattan and other from Flushing, so we had to pick a nice central location. Ihawan in Woodside was perfect since all major trains could get there easily. It also had a very homey atmosphere and wasn't too loud. I wanted to make sure we were in a place where everyone could easily talk to anyone else at the table. Of equal importance, the food was great.


Be sure to click on the slideshow to access the Picasa Web album for more details and hi-res photos.

Renee's Kitchenette & Grill (Buffet)

Home of Pampanga's Best Cuisine

Location: 69-14 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Filipino
Hours: MON, WED, THU (10:30am-8:30pm); FRI, SAT, SUN (8:30am-8:30pm); TUE (closed)
Phone: (718) 476-9002, (718) 947-0472
Prices: about $12/person
Credit Cards: ???

Food: 5
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 6

Frequency: Unique

One of the highlights of a busy Sunday was Susan's Birthday lunch @ Renee's. It was fun to catchup with friends and family again. The group roughly consisted of teh same people at last month's housewarming.


As I mentioned in my Ihawan review, there aren't many Filipino restaurants around that are better than home-cooked food. Renee's is just another one to add to the list. The food was OK at the buffet, but not great (see Picasa album for details). It's probably fair to re-evaluate this place in the future though. Their sit-down menu actually looks impressive. Note that average rating I gave it was strictly on the buffet.

The service was pretty good overall. The staff was a little on the slow side, but the place was packed and they were still very accommodating. The space was clean for a buffet with interesting decorations. It was a little overcrowded though... hard to walk through to get to the buffet table.

Happy Moon Festival

Related: About.com, Wikipedia

Mrs. Cobra the Terminator

Original Dates: ~1983-1987?

Many TV shows based around a school usually have an episode with a substitute teacher. There are 2 directions producers can push the storyline. There could be a very nice sub where the class ends up happy to get a break from their teacher. On the other side of the coin, an evil sub can make things worse for the students. In the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot, an evil cyborg was disguised as the substitute teacher and shot up the classroom trying to kill John Connor. Watching that episode sparked a flashback to elementary school where my friends and I had the unfortunate experience of our own evil sub. Her name was Mrs. Cobler, but she was known as "Mrs. Cobra" or "Cobra Commander" to all of the kids. Mrs. Cobra was always mean and obviously hated kids. Everyone got in trouble by her... I mean everyone at one point or another... even Mike N.! Mike was the perfect student, both academically and morally. Physically, she was tall and elongated with a slight arch in her upper back... very much resembling a humanoid cobra! There was likely a metal endoskeleton & red eyes underneath as well. We suffered her presence through almost the entire 6 years of elementary school and were never happy when our teachers were sick.

Gnothi Seauton

"I cannot imagine the Apocalypse. No matter what Kyle Reese told me or others who have come back... I cannot imagine 3 billion dead. I can imagine planes hitting buildings and I can imagine fire. If I would've witnessed it, if I would've been here, I'm sure I would've thought the end was near. I'm sure I would've thought... we have failed."

Sarah Connor
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Episode 102

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Season 1

Story: 8
Action: 7
Acting: 7
FX: 8
Durability: 8
Special Features: 7

I bet it was a challenge getting the pilot approved for this series. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles sounded like it was going to be a failure to begin with because it was taking one of the most sacred sci-fi sagas and not including any of the original cast members. Now Stargate also did this years ago, but they had a top name in Richard Dean Anderson to carry the weight. This series did not. However, it all turned out well. Season 2 begins tomorrow night and I'm reviewing the DVD set of season 1 that I gladly spent $20 on.

The 2 things that made this series successful were the story and special fx. The plot of each episode had to be carefully thought out because of the time altering aspects of the story arc. And it also acknowledged the 3 movies. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles took place between T2 and T3. It starts in 1999, but Sarah & John time travel to 2007 with the help of a new Terminator named Cameron to try to stop Skynet from being built. Some of the characters from the movies made appearances in the series including Dr. Silberman, Kyle Reese, Enrique and the Dyson family. There were also a lot of new characters added... Charlie Dixon (Sarah's new fiancee), James Ellison (FBI agent investigating the strange evidence of robots from the future) and Derek Reese (Kyle's older brother). While the main characters of the series were figuring out how Skynet was started, Terminators were also beginning to mobilize and prepare for Judgement Day.

The special effects were the best I've seen for a non-cable TV channel. The endoskeletons didn't lose that much detail. That was very important because it's the most memorable image from the movies. They also showed enough footage of the Terminators to keep me interested. They could've easily cut corners and made cheap replicas of the robots, but in the end the fx team did a great job working off of the movie imagery.

The most important character was of course the title one, Sarah Connor. Lena Headey's interpretation wasn't exactly the same as the original, Linda Hamilton. I felt that was OK because each Terminator story had Sarah go through huge life-changing experiences. In Terminator, she was a sweet diner waitress... a normal everyday person. In T2, she was obsessed with training her son John to be the leader of mankind and was also locked up in a mental hospital for years. In T2, Hamilton played a tough Terminator-like soldier. Headey in the series still had the toughness, but was more rational. This change in behavior could be explained by the events at the end of T2. She was reunited with her son and saw the importance of life. She gained sight of what they were fighting for again. As for the other characters, there was a lot of leeway. John Connor was a kid in T2, so getting a new actor was no big deal to play him as an older teen. Thomas Dekker did a great job with this role, combining characteristics of a budding leader and an everyday teen. He also looks somewhere between the T2 and T3 John. Summer Glau played the good Terminator and there was a lot of contrast in her character. On the outside, she looks like a sweet girl, but the way she acted stone cold was almost creepy... a "scary robot."

The timing of this TV series is great because it'll set things up for Terminator Salvation in Summer 2009.

You can catch season 2 Monday nights @ 8pm on Fox.

Related: IMDB, Official Site on Fox, Sarahconnorchronicles.org (fan site)

DVDeals 9/7 - 9/13

DVD Tuesday
The long awaited partnership of Jet Li and Jackie Chan will come out this Tuesday... Forbidden Kingdom. The regular edition is cheapest at Circuit City... $14.99. The 2-disc special edition is $22.99 everywhere, so it'll end up slightly cheaper if you buy from Amazon or Buy.com assuming you have Prime membership or purchase other things to qualify for free shipping.

Circuit City Deals
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for $6.99
- Ong Bak for $6.99
- A Knight's Tale or $6.99
- XXX for $6.99
- Desperado for $6.99
- Mask of Zorro for $6.99

Best Buy Deals
- Seven Swords for $4.99
- Hero for $4.99
- Ghost Rider for $7.50

Google Chrome BETA

Google released Chrome, their new browser today. So I wanted to post my take on it. As usual, they did a lot of research and testing before its release. They must've studied user behaviors in depth because I felt right at home with it even though it has a different look and feel than my default browser, Firefox. I'm not sure if this browser if for everyone though. A power user who knows his/her shortcuts would have an easier time with it because there aren't a lot of menus to navigate with. They concentrated on making a lot of space for the web page itself, only displaying information when needed.

Pros
The look and feel is original and visually appealing. Space for web pages has been maximized and it breaks away from the standard Windows interface. Because of the simplified look, many interface elements perform more than one task. The address bar is also a search bar. The backend is treated as a mini operating system almost, doing an efficient job of dividing processes. If one tab crashes, it doesn't shutdown the entire browser. Tabs can be dragged in and out of windows. Developers need not worry too much about developing for another browser. It uses the same rendering engine as Safari. All of my pages look fine on it and I haven't run across any sites that didn't work yet.

Cons
It still lacks a lot when compared to Firefox, but Google Chrome is still in beta. It can't be customized to the level that Firefox can... no themes or plugins. Nearly all of the "pros" I mentioned can be achieved in Firefox with plugins. Google boasted about performance, but this browser renders images noticeably slower.

Conclusion
Google Chrome is a nice alternative browser and it's better than Internet Explorer, but it has a long way to go before getting me to change my default from Firefox.

Related: About, Comic Book, Download, Video

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day BBQ

We had a nice little BBQ in Ben & Uncle Rupert's backyard. Uncle Rupert & Ben live in consecutive houses on the same block and have their backyards combined into one large one. It's perfect for outdoor occasions and a rarity in the city.

DVDeals 8/31 - 9/6

There's not much going on this week with DVD releases and just a few sales, but it's better than nothing.

Best Buy Deals
- 10,000 BC for $9.99
- Transformers (w/ Optimus Prime mask) for $9.99
- Fast & Furious Trilogy for $9.99
- Beowulf (Director's Cut) for $9.99

Circuit City Deals
- Punisher for $4.99
- First Blood for $4.99
- First Blood II for $4.99
- Alien for $4.99

Signs of Autumn

Original Dates: September 1980 - September 1993

We're not even up to September yet, but it's felt like October for about a week now. Perhaps the transition to Fall has accelerated because school starts up early this year with a Sept. 2 Labor Day. There were certain signs in nature that reminded me of the beginning of the school year when I was a kid. There was of course the temperature drop that's a bit too cool for swimming. When my parents installed a pool, we would have parties almost every weekend. Friends and/or family from out of town would stay over for days at a time. When temperatures got cooler, less people would come over and gatherings would get smaller. The shortening of daylight symbolized that the fun days of Summer activities were over. I've always wanted to like Autumn because I feel more comfortable with its temperatures, but these memories of the end of leisure time are still triggered by the same changes in the environment that happen every year. There's also a smell in the air that I can't describe. Because of this, I don't think I can ever enjoy the beginning of Autumn.

Liam's Baptism

Today was baby Liam's big day as he officially entered the St. Paul & St. Andrew community. It was a great blessing for him to become part of the best environment in the city. All of the members are pretty close with each other and it often has a family feeling to it.


I usually don't get a chance to attend the Sunday service at the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew since I spend weekends with family & friends in Queens. But I was able to shuffle my schedule since Liam's Baptism was already planned weeks ago. It was great to see everyone again. I usually only see the church community during the school year because of the volunteer work I do there.

Congratulations to Andrew, Joanne & Liam!