[ Tuesday, October 31, 2006 ]
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!Have a Fun and not-so-scary Halloween night!
- Mac-O-Lantern
Sheesh, THIS reminds me of something that HAL would probably come up with in his lab...
- Punny Halloween!
Why don't witches like to ride their brooms when they're angry?
They're afraid of flying off the handle.
Who won the skeleton beauty contest?
No body
What do skeletons say before they begin dining?
Bone appetite!
Where do baby ghosts go during the day?
Dayscare centers
Who did Frankenstein take to the prom?
His ghoul friend.
What monster flies his kite in a rain storm?
Benjamin Frankenstein
What do ghosts serve for dessert?
Ice Scream
What's a monster's favorite play?
Romeo and Ghouliet
What do witches put on their hair?
Scare spray
What do you get when you cross Bambi with a ghost?
Bamboo
What's a haunted chicken?
A poultry-geist
How can you tell when you're in bed with Count Dracula?
He has a big D on his pajamas
What's pink and gray and wrinkly and old and belongs to Grandpa monster?
Grandma monster
Why did the monster eat a light bulb?
Because he was in need of a light snack
Why are most monsters covered in wrinkles?
Have you ever tried to iron a monster?
What kind of mistakes do spooks make?
Boo boos
Why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep?
Because of his coffin
Why do mummies make excellent spies?
They're good at keeping things under wraps
What kind of cereal do monsters eat?
Ghost-Toasties
What kind of monster is safe to put in the washing machine?
A wash and wear wolf
What's the first thing ghosts do when they get into a car?
They boo-kle their seatbelts
What has webbed feet, feathers, fangs and goes quack-quack?
Count Duckula
What do you call a person who puts poison in a person's corn flakes?
A cereal killer
Why are monsters huge and hairy and ugly?
Because if they were small and round and smooth they'd be M&Ms
Why wasn't there any food left after the monster party?
Because everyone was a goblin!
How did the ghost patch his sheet?
With a pumpkin patch.
What do witches use on their hair?
Scare spray
What is as sharp as a vampires fang?
His other fang.
What do the birds sing on Halloween?
Twick or Tweet
What did the little ghost have in his rock collection?
Tombstones
Why should a skeleton drink 10 glasses of milk a day?
It's good for the bones
What do baby ghosts wear on Halloween?
White Pillowcases
What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?
Squash
Why did the witches' team lose the baseball game?
Their bats flew away
What was the witches favorite subject in school?
Spelling
What does a vampire fear most?
Tooth decay
Where did the vampire open his savings account?
At a blood bank
What did the mad scientist eat on Halloween?
Frankenfurters with Ketchup
Where do mummies go for a swim?
To the dead sea
What is Transylvania?
Dracula's terror-tory
Where does Dracula water ski?
On Lake Erie
What kind of boat pulls Dracula when he water skis?
A blood vessel
What do you get when you divide the diameter of a jack-o-lantern by it's circumference?
Pumpkin Pi
Why are there fences around cemeteries?
Because people are dying to get in.
Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?
He didn't have the guts.
What does a ghost eat for lunch?
A BOO-logna sandwich.
How does the silly witch know what time it is?
She looks at her witch-watch.
What did the Mommy ghost say to the baby ghost?
Don't spook until your spooken to.
What kind of protozoa likes Halloween?
An amoeboo!
How do vampires get around on Halloween night?
By blood vessels.
Why do ghouls and demons hang out together?
Because demons are a ghoul's best friend!
What happened to the guy who couldn't keep up payments to his exorcist?
He was repossessed.
yam [12:27 PM 0 comments ] Congratulations to gg on the birth of baby C! Can't wait to hear about all of the details!
yam [12:02 AM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, October 30, 2006 ]
RecapOK, so what have we been doing for the last couple of weeks? A lot!
-Friday evening 10/20 - Coached basketball practice.
-Saturday 10/21 - Coached more basketball practice in the morning, did chores at home, went to see "Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D" at The Bridge in LA. Hadn't seen this movie since it's original run in '93 and I really enjoyed it and Matthew said it was "Awesommmme!". We finished off the day with dinner at Souplantation.
-Sunday 10/22 - Breakfast at McD's, shopping at too many places to remember for clothes, home repair, groceries, etc.
-Monday Evening 10/23 - Piano class.
-Tuesday Evening 10/24 - "Date" night, watched our weekly obsession "Dancing with the Stars" (buh-bye Jerry!)
-Thursday 10/26 - Took the wagon in for service to check on squealing brakes, oil leak, weak hatch struts, and oil change. Dealer fixed leak (bad sensor on transmission), but said brakes and hatch struts were OK (bah, they just don't want to pay for it!)
-Friday 10/27 - Took the day off from work to unwind, felt kinda run-down so got a slow start, ran lots of errands, had a Starbux break in the afternoon, cooked dinner, coached basketball practice in the evening.
-Saturday 10/28 - Got up at 6AM! for a Coaches clinic in Anaheim from 8am-11am, had lunch with family at Curry House in Cypress, baked pumpkin cake shaped liked Mickey Mouse with cream cheese frosting for dinner party at L's, then played games all night.
-Sunday 10/29 - Coached two games of Matthew's Fall basketball league (Final games - won one, lost one) and finished the season 3-5 (which is THREE more wins than we had last season with the old team!), then went out to dinner with L at Kozan (a quaint little Japanese hole-in-the-wall joint in old Torrance). Eww, while looking for a link to that restaurant (couldn't find one) I did find a notice from the LA Health dept which closed down the place for a few days due to "Prevention of entrance and harborage of vermin, Vermin infestation" just a couple of months ago!). We then watched Just Like Heaven on cable (a quirky love story (Chick flick!) about a guy falling in love with the spirit of a woman (Reese Witherspoon) in a coma... ); it was a cute movie, though.
Whew, it was tiring just recalling all that we've done the last few days, and I'm sure I left out a few things too.
yam [12:41 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, October 19, 2006 ]
Yam Fam Activities and ThoughtsYes, being busy is just a way of life for us as you probably know by now, although there are things that I should probably do to try and relax more or I'm going to be worn down to a nub.
Do I look like I'm scared?
- Last weekend Matthew spent most of the weekend at his cousins' house while L and I spent the whole day Saturday at Disneyland/California Adventure. Check out the photos HERE. Even though it was pretty crowded, we had a blast and finished off the evening by meeting up with Mr. & Mrs. Mouji at around midnight. Highlights from the "Happiest Place on Earth" were:
* Halloween decorations were awesome!
* Saw three new animatronic robots of Pirate Jack Snow (Johnny Depp) in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
* The Haunted Mansion was wonderful in it's Nightmare Before Christmas theme and was different from previous years.
* My first ride on Tower of Terror did NOT disappoint!
* "Unforeseen problems" on both ToT and Space Mountain caused us minor delays while waiting to ride those attractions.
* The Aladdin Show at California Adventure was terrific and the guy who plays the Genie was hilarious.
* All of the 50th Anniversary decorations are gone now.
- Matthew's basketball team is on a long break, but we've been getting in our practices. It's been tough learning how to coach these boys since they aren't the most cooperative, but it's been a good experience for me as I've learned a lot about the details of the game and about my own capabilities.
- Matthew and I went to a special Family Night sponsored by the school district and had fun watching a show with "Mr. Science" & "Mr. Magic". Matthew was randomly selected for a lecture on the history of aviation (others had presentations on Math and other subjects) that was unfortunately really dry and boring for the kids, as it was presented by this old retired pilot who wasn't exactly captivating.
- It's hard to believe that a year has already passed since my mom passed away. Sigh, time goes by way too fast! :-(
- Baseball season is winding down (poor Dodgers) but basketball season has just started! (Go, Lakers!)
- Summer weather has returned to SoCal just as I was starting to get used to the cooler fall temps.
More stuff later...
yam [10:51 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, October 09, 2006 ]
Got this one from a fellow blogger...(Wow, I'm sort of surprised at my results!)
Joe Normal
39 % Nerd, 17% Geek, 17% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.
This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.
I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.
Congratulations!
Thanks Again!
-- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST
yam [9:06 PM 0 comments ] Happy Birfday to HAL! Hope you're feeling better and sorry to hear about your loss. :-(
yam [6:03 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, October 08, 2006 ]
Weekend UpdateWhoa, this is the earliest weekend update I've done in some time. Friday night was basketball practice night and I was having a lot of trouble trying to coach the team since I'm still trying to recover from my cold and I could hardly get my voice out loud enough to yell at the boys over the din in the gym. Not to mention that all of them weren't very focused on this Friday evening.
Saturday morning we had to get up early for a 9:00 AM basketball game and that same attitude from the previous night sort of carried over. A couple of the boys got into a little "disagreement" and one of them wasn't mature enough to handle it. Our team mom had to talk to him for a good 15 minutes just to get him into the gym since his parents weren't at the game. The first half of the game our team was so sluggish, and we fell behind and could never catch up, although we stayed with the other team for the second half, so we lost 29-18.
After the game we did a little shopping and then ripped out/chopped up a dying bush in front of my house for part of the afternoon until we had to go to Matthew's haircut appointment.
For dinner we tried out Kappa Family Restaurant in old Torrance (see Moblog on left), which recently moved into the location where the "landmark" Ding How restaurant used to be for ages. But the new restaurant isn't exactly new either, as I think it was in Gardena for many years under the name "Kappa Cafe". The food reminded me of the old days when I went out to dinner on Saturdays with my parents for "old school" Japanese-American food. The have a good selection of Japanese and Hawaiian food that we'll have to go back and try other selections. Matthew had bacon fried rice and I had the Nabeyaki Udon (kinda salty, but tasty).
Today we got to sleep-in and I really needed it. Later in the morning we had to get the team photos taken and then to another basketball game at noon. We played a team that was so much shorter than our team and incredibly blew them out, 30-8! But I must say, that even though they weren't so good, our boys played very well, and showed a lot of improvement in their teamwork and ball movement. So, I was quite happy today! After our game, some of the families joined us at Back Home in Lahaina in Carson and had a fun time at lunch.
We finished off today with a trip to Target and Ralphs market, then came home and made beef stew for dinner! Yum. OK, that's my weekend in a nutshell.
Have a good week!
yam [9:14 PM 0 comments ]
[ Saturday, October 07, 2006 ]
Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 Plus
Still a Geek
Yes, my geekery is still in full bloom, as I ordered this nifty little gadget (Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 Plus) today, which records direct from TV, DVD, etc. to a digital memory card so I can watch TV shows, movies, photos, etc on either my Treo smarphone or my Sony PSP! Here is a review on how this techno toy works. Oh, can't wait 'til it gets here!
yam [5:10 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, October 02, 2006 ]
Meet, Loaf!I was experimenting in the kitchen tonight, trying to whip up something quick for dinner for Matthew and I when I threw together a meatloaf that turned out to be one of my tastiest meals (if I do say so myself!). It came out so moist, juicy and yummy. Matthew had three huge slices and asked for more! So, before I forget what I put into it, here is my recipe for meatloaf:
MEATLOAF
1 lb ground meat (I used turkey, but I'm sure any meat will do)
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 stale slice of bread, crumbled
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 pouch instant Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal (the secret ingrediment!)
Mix all ingredients together (except 1/3 can tomato sauce) in a large mixing bowl. Transfer into a loaf pan and pat down lightly. Pour remaining tomato sauce on top and spread evenly. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until internal temperature is 165 degrees (about 40 minutes), (160 degrees for ground beef). Let rest about 5 minutes before slicing and serving. I hope you enjoy it!
yam [9:43 PM 0 comments ] Update Shmupdate
To say that I've been busy these last couple of weeks would be an understatement. I'm still shaking off the effects of that cold I had two weeks ago and that has definitely slowed me down just a bit, although this weekend we really tried to take it easy. Work has been very overwhelming but this week I seem to have just a slight bit of a breather until later in the week.
Here's a brief recap of the last few days:
- Monday (9/25) - Went to Matthew's weekly piano class in the evening which is pretty tough to do on Monday after a busy weekend.
- Tuesday (9/26) - Finally had a chance to catch up with L and try to cram in some personal time together in one night.
- Wednesday (9/27) - Took the day off from work to attend my Uncle Frank's funeral. This is my Dad's last of three brothers (my Dad (83) is the oldest) who passed away from cancer, and probably his closest sibling, since they ran a business together with their Dad back in the 50's/60's. Only his sister (who is 21 years younger) is left from their family. All of the activities (funeral, luncheon, burial) pretty much took up the entire day since we had to go to downtown LA for the services, lunch at the church and then to Rose Hills for the burial. It was nice to see family that I rarely get to see these days and do a little bit of catching up. We used to get together with my Uncle's family every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas until I was a teenager, until my cousins' (three girls and one boy) families started growing and we didn't see much of them any more.
There were lots of old family photos there and lots of talk about our family lineage, which gave me a strange feeling of togetherness and sadness of losing history. We stopped by my mom's gravesite (which was near my uncle's) to leave some flowers and it made me realize that it's already been close to a year since she's been gone. *sigh* So, it was an emotional kinda day.
- Thursday (9/28) - It was Back-To-School Night at Matthew's school, so I got to meet his new 4th grade teacher and learn about what to expect this year. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to talk to her, so I'll have to set up something later. But I was able to meet up with L for a quick dinner afterwards (while Matthew was still at the Y) and we had a tasty Soon Dobu (Korean tofu soup w/rice) that I tasted (garlic) the whole day afterwards!
- Friday (9/29) - Had to rush home after work on Friday to coach Matthew's basketball team. We've "affiliated" with a new organization so we now have some practice time at a local gym which is great, but is a bit tough to fit in around work/dinner. We had a pretty decent 2 hours worth of practice which wore me out!
- Saturday/Sunday (9/30-10/1) - We actually had NO scheduled activities this weekend, since our basketball division hadn't scheduled any games for us, so we just caught up on some much needed shopping, sleep, and yard work.
Whew, that tired me out just writing it all down!
yam [12:12 PM 0 comments ]
