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