Protocol Snow

I had planned to post about the Toto Washlet a few weeks ago when I returned to my Los Angeles home. These washlets aren’t that common in the U.S. and are probably best known as those “crazy Japanese toilets that spray water at your butt”. They’re everywhere in Japan restrooms, of course, but they’re also fairly common in Taiwan and I’m sure in other Asian countries. My uncle has had these toilets in his Taiwan house for a few years, which was an inspiration for my family to install them.

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As school starts to get more intense and with the ultimate exam (USMLE Step 1) waiting in June, free time is hard to come by.

Oh who am I kidding, I still manage to keep up with my favorite TV shows (Top Gear, Top Chef, 30 Rock, and The Office) and do plenty of Internet browsing. But updating this blog has become secondary, as evident from the progressively lengthening time between posts. I have a few drafts that I’ll post this Christmas break, but I’m considering taking a blogging break for the first half of 2009, when I really have to get serious about studying for that test. I feel it’s a courtesy to announce a blogging break because otherwise readers might think the blog is dead if there hasn’t been any updates for a couple months. Nothing definitive for now, but I’ll see after the New Year and will make a separate post in the future about that.

Anyway, I was taking a break from studying for my Friday test (last one in 2008!) and came across a few links:

Iron Chef: Battle Souplantation
Maybe it’s because I’ve been studying too much, but I thought this idea was hilarious. Souplantation is a hearty buffet restaurant that specializes in salads and soups and is one of my favorite comfort restaurants. The food blogger who wrote this dined there with a friend and challenged her to make custom dishes with the available food.

I eat at Souplantation pretty much every time I go back home because it’s cheap and pretty tasty. This challenge brought back memories of a past Souplantation experience after my brother had his jaw surgery. When you eat at Souplantation, you start at the beginning of a long and winding food bar and make your way to the end where the cash registers are. My brother wasn’t able to chew anything, but he came with us to eat anyway to drink soup.

Of course, since he couldn’t eat anything, he was pushing an empty plate along the food bar, which I found very amusing. While getting bored waiting in line, I started taking vegetables and making a smiley face on his empty plate with the ingredients, the face getting more complex as we proceeded along the bar. I don’t remember if my brother was annoyed or not since he couldn’t eat, but the people waiting behind us were giggling.

Jessica Michibata’s photobook!

My favorite model, Jessica Michibata, has recently published her first photobook. She updated her blog today with photos of a meet-and-greet session in Shinjuku with autographed copies of the book. I’m thinking about picking up a copy, though no U.S. retailer is carrying it last I checked. With the yen so strong these days, it’ll be pretty costly if I have to import it. Autographed copies have already appeared on Yahoo Japan Auctions though. Hrm…

Encore opening coverage
The opening of a new casino in Las Vegas is always exciting, though in this case Encore is just an expansion of Wynn Las Vegas. Still, I’m keeping an eye on this site, which will bring coverage from a couple of Vegas veterans as opening night approaches in two weeks. Since I’m a Los Angeles native, Las Vegas has always been a quick and easy vacation destination, a mere three hour drive away. I probably won’t be going to Vegas this Christmas, but late 2009 is definitely a possibility. Several new properties are scheduled to open by then for me to check out.

Alright, back to studying. After my test on Friday, I’m going home!

UPDATE: I can’t express enough how much I love Top Gear. If you haven’t seen it before, today’s episode is a good place to start because it has it all: super fast cars, entertaining and informative segments, laughs aplenty and gorgeous cinematography. Then go back and check previous episodes because they’re all good. This episode particularly sparkles.

I cleaned up my computer a bit and deleted a bunch of stuff to free up my hard drive. Also went with a new desktop design while I was at it.

Very clean and minimal, just the way I like it. It looks a lot sleeker with the WinXP taskbar switched off, but not having the bar at the bottom is inconvenient at times so I’m still debating whether to turn it back on.

Dock: ObjectDock v1.9
Dock icons: vision opal
Winamp skin: Ebonite
Wallpaper: Personal photo from the Tokyo Met. Government Building in Shinjuku.

This is not the project I was hinting at in my previous post by the way. That project’s finished and I took a bunch of photos yesterday. I’m very happy with how it turned out and will be blogging about it in a few days as soon as my brother gets one in the mail. Don’t want to ruin the surprise, now do we?

I signed up for Amazon Prime a few months ago because I had an opportunity to split the $80 annual membership fee with a few other guys. Since then, Amazon.com has been getting plenty of business from me. Prime gives you free 2 day shipping and overnight shipping for $3.99. I never order overnight shipping, but occasionally I magically get my items the next day if the assigned shipping center is close.

I even do household shopping from Amazon now for things like shampoo and detergent. I find that Amazon has slightly cheaper prices than retail at the supermarket, not to mention that I don’t have to waste any gas driving out to stores. It’s win win for me. $80 a year is a little steep though, but it’s definitely worth it if you can find a few buddies to split the cost.

I had lunch today at Souplantation, which is a pretty popular salad and soup buffet restaurant. That in itself isn’t noteworthy, but there were troops of 8th graders from my former middle school eating as well, still dressed in gym clothes and sporting their team colors since today was the annual Spartan Olympics. I was in their position nearly a decade ago, when I was excited about graduating middle school and moving on to high school, yet it feels only a blip of time has passed. Where have all the years gone? Have I made the most of those years? This must be what a mid-life crisis feels like…

My spring break essentially ends today, as tomorrow I fly back for school and Sunday I’ll have to do a lot of spring cleaning, shopping, and chores. Breaks from school are great because not only can I rest my brain, I can also recharge my spirit. It’s time to realize my full potential.

It’s spring break so I flew home to Los Angeles last night. Just in the nick of time too, check out what’s hitting the area tonight and tomorrow.

I spent the afternoon today out on the driving range in a pair of shorts! I love L.A. Still, I’m a bit sad I’m missing my first ever blizzard.

I just watched the tail end of the Celtics/Knicks game (final score: 104-59 Celtics) and now the Nuggets/Lakers game came on. The camera panned over the Los Angeles skyline and zoomed onto downtown L.A. and Staples Center. For possibly the first time in my life, I felt homesick. Christmas break can’t come soon enough.