Links of Fun

Amuse yourself with these links:

This 'game' of sorts will test your wits and your timing abilities: Hapland

Being a bunny, he's still probably better off than most of us: Music Video

These next two have to do with ping-pong. One real, one fake, both awesome:
Godly Ping-pong and Matrix Ping-pong

What cheerleaders do in their free time: Basket Toss

And finally: Duh

That's all.

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Bypass Happiness

I just got back from Oceanside to visit my grandparents. See, last week, my grandfather went in for an angiogram, only to find out that two of his arteries were 80% blocked and that another was 99% blocked. Basically, he was in dire need of open-heart surgery, scheduled for this morning. So, yesterday morning, I made my way, thanks to the thoughtfulness of Devin, for Scripps hospital in La Jolla, where the operation was to be performed.

My Uncle John met me in the lobby and led me to the office where my grandparents were meeting with the surgeon. After exchanging hugs, the four of us made our way out to lunch for a bit of laughter while waiting for the hospital to prepare a room for my grandpa. After a couple hours or so, we made our way back to the hospital, room 439b, to get my grandpa checked by a nurse and to watch a video on the procedure.

Everyone at the hospital was extremely friendly and understanding and took time answering our questions to make sure we understood everything there was to know about the procedure. By the end of the night, I was in full confidence that the operation was going to go well and that my grandfather would be healthier than ever in a couple months. We left the hospital that night at around 9 pm for an early night of sleep.

The operation lasted for a little over four hours and was finished today at around 12:30, when we got a call from the surgeon to inform us that everything had gone as expected and that there were "no surprises." All said and done, my grandfather had undergone a triple-bypass operation which would increase the output of his heart by nearly 25%. No longer would he have pains or shortness of breath, and he'd be able to resume activities that he had engaged in years ago without hesitation. Needless to say, I was very happy to hear the news, as was the rest of the family.

Later in the afternoon, my uncle and I went out to the abandoned gem mines at the Pala Indian Reservation to explore and get out of the house for a bit. We made our way inside, armed only with a couple flashlights, and had a great time inspecting all the differently colored rocks and crystals that formed over the years. After a couple quick games of darts at a neighborhood watering hole, we returned to the house only to receive a call from my grandpa's nurse to inform us that grandpa had woken up from the anesthesia! Naturally, the three of us made our way down to the hospital to see how he was doing.

When we got there, he was in high spirits and full of laughter. If he was in any pain, nobody would've been able to tell, he just kept telling jokes and laughing as if he was at home in his chair. I was glad to see him before I had to go home, but it was getting late, so I made my way back to 'SC, thankful and satisfied with the way everything went.

Thanks to everyone who showed concern; it meant a lot.

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Sharing the (Valentine's Day) Love

Last month, I suggested to Emmy that we celebrate Valentine's Day by going to dinner with our closest friends. Originally, I had this image of a very large group of people and as a result, made a reservation for fourteen at C&O Trattoria. However, the reservation time was a bit too early and I told people about the event a bit too late, so my grand ideas were reduced to a more intimate setting of seven. To be honest, I was initially a bit disappointed at the fact that only half of my good friends were going to be able to make it and that this big dinner I had in mind wasn't going to be so big any longer.

Things started to change when Jonny, who we weren't sure would be able to make it, was excused from his delivery duties so that he could make the ride with us to the restaurant. Then Chris Stanford, who I'd assumed wasn't going to come because Cary had to work late, showed up with a home-made valentine to surprise me at C&O's door and really brighten my spirits. After all the surprise guests made their debut, the eight of us (Emmy, Chris, Jonny, Tippi, Dannica, Devin, Hieu, and myself) made our way to the table for what became a fantastic dinner.

After dinner, six of us made our way down the Marina Del Rey pier where we met up with this rather strange guy who attempted, rather unsuccessfully, to take our picture. We joked around and took our time, even though the girls were rather cold, before making our way back to 'SC. Moral of the story: just because something doesn't happen exactly the way you would expect it to doesn't mean it can't be just as good.

Later, Emmy came over with a letter she wrote me and a button that her mom sent to her as a Valentine's Day present. The concept of the button is to flick the spinner located in the center and do whatever it comes to rest on, such as, 'Kiss for 30 Seconds' or 'Say Something That Will Make Your Partner Blush.' We modified a couple of the spaces a bit and ended up playing the game for over five hours! Thanks Hieu.

Overall, a Valentine's Day to remember.

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Design My Nikes!

I've decided to treat myself and purchase a pair of Nike Shox with the winnings I recently came across, thanks to the Superbowl. So, I went online the other day to check out the different styles and colors and realized that I could design my own rather than have a standard, store-bought color scheme! Then I started looking through and cutomizing and realized that I shouldn't be the only one having so much fun, so I've decided to share. That's right, I'm asking you to help design my shoes for me. Only one person will win, but if you're looking for a way to procrastinate, look no further, because this contest is it.

Before you go out there and start customizing, however, you'll need to know a few things:

1. The website where you can design the shoes is located at www.nikeid.com.
2. I'm only interested in buying a pair of running shoes, namely the Nike Shox NZ or Nike Shox Turbo. Don't bother customizing any of the others for me, because I don't like them.
3. Although these shoes will be worn primarily while working out (eg: lifting, running, racquetball), I'd also like them to look decent when worn with casual clothing.
4. I don't care how crazy they look, as long as they look good. Remember, I've chosen to buy a custom pair for a reason. Be creative!
5. It might help to create an account so that you can save your favorite color schemes in your locker for later retrieval/finishing touches. It's completely optional, however.
6. Either create an account and e-mail me your shoe design directly (super easy), or take a screen shot of the shoe in a 3/4 overhead perspective by pressing Print Screen for a PC, Shift+Apple+3 for a Mac -> Paste into Paint -> Save.
   
7. Email me (TrojanDan@gmail.com) your entry(ies) by this weekend.
   
8. It's completely irrelevant, but I know someone is going to ask it anyway: I wear a size 11.
   

On Monday, I'll look through all the received entries and post my favorites for everyone to vote on. The winner will then be notified and forever immortalized on my shoes in the manner they choose when I personalize them. That way, when people ask me why my shoes say, for example, 'WNDYRULZ,' I'll tell them about the time my friend Wendy entered a contest on my blog.....

HAPPY CUSTOMIZING!


This is the 3/4 overhead perspective I was talking about.

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Call Me Charlie

Last week, one of my coworkers approached me to see if I wanted to join an office Superbowl pool. The scheme was a 10x10 grid of boxes which would later be randomly assigned number ranging from 0 to 9. The numbered columns corresponded to the ones digit in the score for the Patriots, and the numbered rows would correspond to the ones digit of the Eagles' score. Each square could only be claimed once and each cost $3. I decided to buy three squares for a total of $9 and am I ever glad I did!

So, when choosing which squares I wanted, I purposefully chose squares that resided in three different rows and columns, so that I wouldn't be reliant upon the same number for two separate squares. The drawback here being that if a certain row was assigned a quality number - such as 0, 7, 4, or 1 - one was dependent on getting another quality number for only a single corresponding column, or visa-versa, instead of using that quality number multiple times. Since gambling was the nature of the game, I decided to take my chances.

So, 100 squares at $3 a piece yielded a total pot of $300. $50 was given out to the holder of the matching square for the scores at the end of each quarter with the remaining $150 given to the holder of the matching score square at the conclusion of the game. I held squares (P2, E3), (P6, E6), and (P4, E1). Well, as we all know, the final score of the game was Patriots 24, Eagles 21, meaning that I won the 'grand prize' of $150, netting me a pay out of 1666%!!!! After discovering that I had won, I went insane and am still in quite a hyper mood, but can you blame me? Sure I only had a 1 in 33 chance of winning anything (or a 97% chance of losing money), but it made a game that I really couldn't care less about so much more interesting, so I think it was well-worth the risk involved. And, being from Vegas, I know to quit while ahead, so instead of using my winnings to go and bet on something else, I'm going to treat myself right and blow the money on something tangible, like a pair of Nike Shox. Watch for an update about just that in the (very) near future.

So then, kids, I guess the moral of the story is that when it comes to gambling, Just Do It!

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Snow Ballin' and Dim Summin'

Last night was the annual event known as Snowball, a semi-formal dance promoted to freshmen at USC, but open to any student of the University. I went my freshman year, way back on March 1, 2002, and didn't have any plans to attend this year's until Emmy, so very eloquently, asked me to be her date. After getting off work I made a quick change of clothes and gathered supplied, including a few fresh-cut limes from the corner market, before heading out around 10:00. Thirty minutes and a liter later, Nelisa, her friend Kevin, Emmy, and I were well on our way to the party for a bit of socializing and a lot of dancing.

The DJ at the dance was fantastic and we all had a great time. As well, I learned that Emmy is quite the dancer! Afterwards, we all went our separate ways while Emmy and I sat in her car for quite a while, drinking water and listening to Keane. We were eventually questioned by a DPS officer who wanted to make sure that Emmy was alright. She assured them that everything was just fine, and even though nothing happened, gave them a story so that they couldn't possibly cite us for anything.

After meeting up with Meha and her date, Kevin, we went for a short drive and then back to my apartment, only to be greeted by a room full of cruisers. We hung out with them for a bit before going to sleep.

Then, this morning we met up with a group of friends for to eat dim sum. It was delicious, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted to order more, but since nobody else was still hungry, I didn't want to order food just for myself since we were all splitting the bill evenly. Effectively, they would've been paying for food that only I ate, which just didn't' seem right to me. So, hungry I stayed. Didn't matter much, however; I went for the company.

When we came back, Emmy and I had talk that I will never forget. Then, she took a nap.

The afternoon came and Emmy went home, only to return show her friends their possible apartment next year and to drop off some of the things that I left in the dorms before and during the dance, such as my jacket. Her friends, Meha and Nelisa, then invited me to go shopping with the three of them. Always up for spending money, I accepted and we spent the evening shopping, laughing, and actin' the fool at the Beverly Center. I ended up buying a pair of jeans from Banana Republic (my favorite store) and noticing a pair of shoes to buy with my next paycheck superbowl winnings. I got to choose the music on the way home and then I took a shower. Now it's 10:00 and I think I'm going to organize some iTunes music, cause I'm just that cool.

Amazing.

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Dim Sum

(Snowball pictures coming soon....)

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