Valentine's Day

I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day. I won't go into all the details again about how I think it's a marketing conspiracy by all the retailers to pilfer from our wallets.

I got Sarah some roses and our usual cake for holidays. I can't believe how much more they increased their prices to exploit this day. They doubled the price of the roses! I couldn't believe the price gouging. Nevertheless, I forked over the cash. They know that men are captives to their business practices. If guys don't pay up and buy the gifts, then their women will kill them.

Hit By A Car

I got hit by a car on my way to work in the morning yesterday while riding my bike. I was riding westbound on Cesar Chavez going to Downtown L.A. This car coming from the opposite side made a left turn and kept coming. She didn't stop, but kept going. She hit me with her front bumper. I flew about 10 feet and hit the road. I kept sliding on my arms, knees, ankle, and chest. I thought I was going to die. Fortunately, I had another life left. If it was anyone else, I'm sure they would have been seriously injured or could have died.

The person who hit me was a fat Hispanic lady aged 54. She was with someone who I think was her husband. She was entering this warehouse that seemed to be a discount store wholesaler. It looks like she knew one Hispanic guy that worked there because I saw her talking to him.

A person on the street said she would call 911. Nobody else stopped because there was no place to park and they all probably wanted to get to work without getting involved.

A firetruck and ambulance came in about 5-10 minutes. They bandaged me up and asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I declined, because I felt okay aside from my cuts and sore muscles. I should have gone to the hospital, because I'm really sore now and maybe I could have gotten checked out. My legs are really sore. My back, neck, and chest is also sore. I got cuts and scrapes on both my arms, elbows, knees, and left ankle.

I asked the lady why she didn't stop and she said that she stopped and that I hit her! That was total b.s. She kept going and didn't stop until she hit me. I screamed out in pain. She said that I was coming down at 35 mph which was not true since there was a lot of traffic. I went slow around 10 mph. If she said I was coming down fast, then she did see me, but she didn't stop.

My bike is ruined. My front wheel is totally bent and needs to be replaced. I have to special order a derailleur hanger for my Motobecane Nemesis. I also need a new rear derailleur because it's bent. My bike seat is scraped up. My bar tape is also scraped up. I need new brakes and cables. I probably need a tune-up too to make sure that the bike will run okay. My front bike lights also fell off and broke.

She seemed to be in a rush because she said that she had to get to the airport to go to Florida. She said she was coming back in 10 days. She didn't want to give me any of her info until the police came. When a police officer finally showed up he took my info but said I needed to order a police report. I still don't have her insurance info. Hopefully, the police report will be okay. I'm not quite sure if he took the correct information about what happened and how much damage there was to my bike. The fat lady asked how my tire was. It wasn't my tire, but my whole wheel. I said that the wheel probably costs around $200. She said that she would pay for it if I showed her the receipt, but there is more damage than just the wheel. She probably doesn't know anything about bikes so she didn't think there was much damage.

She didn't even apologize to me. She kept insisting that it wasn't her fault. She kept lying to the police officer so she wouldn't get in trouble. She said that the car she drove, a junky bluish 1996 Nissan Sentra with different colored body parts and duct tape, was not hers. I guess she borrowed it from someone. I hope they have insurance. She and her husband were not injured and there was no damage to the car.

The pictures don't quite show the magnitude of the damage to me and my bike. It's worse in person than in the pictures.

Hopefully, this case will be resolved soon and quickly. I hope both my bike and I will be okay and riding together soon.

Santa Ana River Trail

Andy and I biked on the Santa Ana River bike paths on Saturday. We went from Fullerton to Huntington Beach. Our round trip mileage was about 44 miles.

The Santa Ana River bike path is really beautiful compared to the San Gabriel River trail, which goes from Azusa to Seal Beach. I wanted to take some pictures along the paths but we were going too fast for me to stop and smell the roses.

I've never seen so many cyclists on bike paths before. There were a lot! There were a lot of club riders too all wearing the same team jerseys. There were a lot of guys on triathlon bikes too. It seems like there are more active Orange County people than in Los Angeles.

This path was so nice that I wish it was hundreds of miles long. I feel like I can ride on this trail forever.

Andy and I are on Team Motobecane.

The Steepest Hill in Los Angeles

There are a couple of races that I know of where the toughest cyclists climb the steepest hills in Los Angeles. One is the Fargo Street hill climb race and the other one is "Feel My Legs I'm a Racer" ride where they race up 10 super steep hills in Los Angeles.

I tried practicing for the race later this month by going up Baxter and Fargo streets. These hills have a 32-25% grade. At first I wasn't sure where it was so I went the entire length of both streets.

I climbed the first couple of hills on Baxter and Fargo in Silver Lake. At first I went to the west side of Glendale Blvd. I climbed up all the hills there on each side. Boy was that tough! There were nice views of the Silver Lake reservoir. Then, I crossed over to the east side of Glendale, and I could see the intimidating hills up there. I just barely managed to climb the first few hills.

When I got to the steepest hills on Baxter and Fargo Street, I was totally exhausted. My heart was pounding and almost fell like giving up. But, through sheer will power, I managed to climb all the hills. I shouldn't have saved the steepest hills for last, because at that point I was pretty weak.

I fell a couple times on my 7th and 8th hill. That was a humbling experience. I had to clip out several times, because I just could not pedal up. There were a lot more cars on Baxter St. than I thought there would be. Maybe it was because it was at rush hour and people were going home.

I went up the hills on my Motobecane Nemesis triathlon/time-trial bike. My time-trial bike is built for high speeds and not climbing. The gear ratios are very high. I had no granny gear to get me up the hills. I think I can do it on my mountain bike which has much lower gears. I thought it was going to be tough especially after watching videos of other guys do it, but it was tougher than I thought. You think you can do it until you actually go up there and try.

I had to zigzag up hill. There are some pretty steep hills in my neighborhood, but these hills are the steepest in the country.

There's a technique to going uphill. You need to power through when turning while zigzaging. Otherwise, it's extremely tough to pedal uphill at that angle. If you lose your balance, concentration, and/or momentum, then it's really hard to get back on the bike again at that steep of an angle. You will fall if you can't keep pedaling up.

Even downhill was tough. The hills were so steep that my brakes couldn't even stop me. I kept going down. Sometimes, I even felt the rear tire skidding downhill. I need new brakes already.

These hills are extremely tough on bike and body. I felt like I could almost rip off the handlebars from my bike when I put so much force on it while pedaling up. I felt like the chain and gears could even break. One time my chain actually broke going uphill on my mountain bike on a steep hill in San Diego.

I also had a backpack full of clothes, shoes, lunch tupperware, bike support stuff, etc. It weighed a good 20 lbs.

I think I could complete the race. I think I will only get a mediocre time though. I think it will be easier and much safer with many other cyclists and no cars around. It was dangerous because cars can't even see anything when they're going uphill especially at the crest. Downhill, the cars' brakes are getting fried too.

You can see Fargo Street from the entrance/exit to the Glendale 2 Freeway. I've always wondered just how steep that hill was and now I know first hand. It's no joke.

Even though I couldn't get up the steepest hills in one complete go (since I was tired from climbing all the other hills), If I could finish them on a high-geared triathlon bike, then I'm pretty sure I can do it on a lower geared mountain bike. It will still be tough, especially on a race of the 10 steepest hills in L.A. These hills are steeper than the ones in San Francisco.

Plus, I'm getting old. Before biking there, I twisted my back and pulled a muscle near my rib. I had a hard time breathing too, because it hurt when I tried to inhale.

It's a good thing I like physical challenges. No pain, no gain, right? If I'm free that day, I want to do that race.

My hats off to the guys who can do it on fixed gear bikes and guys who can do it 50-90 times in one day.

As you know, pictures don't really show just how steep hills are. You've got to go there and do it yourself.

Check out the links to find more about these races:

http://nowhip.blogspot.com/2007/02/feel-my-legs-im-racer-2007.html

http://www.lawheelmen.org/fargo.htm

Lost Season 4

What'd you guys think of last night's premiere of Lost? I thought it was pretty awesome. The only thing is whether or not they'll be able to answer all the questions about the island before the show ends. They introduce new mysteries every episode, and they haven't explained all the stuff in past seasons. I think the storyline is intriguing and the mysteries really get people hooked. It might be frustrating for some, but once they answer the puzzles, it's really anti-climatic. It's like knowing the secret to a magician's trick.

It's like J.J Abram's previous show, Alias, where they had mind-blowing concepts introduced in each episode. When the show finally ended and they explained that Jennifer Garner's mother was the leader behind a New World Order, I found it to be unsatisfying compared to the first season where every episode had an incredible cliff-hanger.

Going back to Lost, it seems like the writer's have been making things up as they go along each episode. Sometimes, they try to introduce things that will really wow people. But, they can't always seem to keep it up, hence season 3 where not as much happened.

They've shown us a lot of things that still needs to be answered satisfactorily. What is that black cloud-like monster? What is the significance of the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42? Why do all the pregnant women die on the island? Etc.

I think Lost is still the best show on tv.

Did you see the Oceanic Airlines commercial on ABC? It goes to a link:

www.flyoceanair.com

After the online commercial, it leads you to another website:

www.find815.com

Find815.com is a fun internet game where you play as a guy who is trying to find what happened to his girlfriend, a stewardess on Oceanic flight 815. Try it. It's pretty clever.

Mr. Pizza Factory

On Saturday, the Sunday School gang had dinner at Mr. Pizza Factory in Ktown. The pizza was delicious, especially their signature dish, the Golden Potato Pizza. That one has their yummy sweet yam in the crust. Everyone seemed to like it. I definitely want to check it out again. The prices are slightly high though.

The waiter took our picture. It's a little blurry. Going clockwise: Hyejin "Grace", Sharon, James, John, Joseph, Jenny, Iris, Woon Sung, Sarah, and Laura.

Afterwards, some of us went to have some Korean tea and Pot Bing Soo.

On Sunday, we had a Sunday School meeting at 9:30 a.m. The new Pastor, James JDSN "Jundosanim", really wants to make some big changes. I think it's good, but it sure is making us spend more time. He made Sarah the Sunday School Director. I'm sure she's the best one for the job, but she's very busy too.

Lawyers in Second Life

I was reading California Lawyer magazine and saw an article about how more lawyers are starting to open up their virtual offices in the cyberworld of Second Life. I thought that was cool. Maybe I can do that too since I love video games. Practicing law in the metaverse may not even seem like work at all. It may be fun like a game, but with real life people on the other side of the internet. The trouble would be finding people willing to pay real money for my services.

Many lawyers are starting to meet in virtual seminars. There are even classrooms held in the virtual world. I think we're starting to see the future of how people meet, network, and do business.

Bank Robbers Crash Into Tree at Mall; Prevents My Wife From Working

Some amateur bank robbers who held up a bank in Orange County drove into a tree at the mall parking lot where my wife works. These clowns started throwing out all the cash outside the car window while being chased by the cops. After they crashed into a palm tree, they all started running out in different directions. Police caught the driver and another suspect, but 3 currently remain at large. They ran into the mall where my wife works. Police evacuated the entire mall. My poor wife had to wait outside in the cold for over 4 hours. She didn't have her purse with her when she had to leave the mall so she couldn't eat lunch nor drive her car. Plus, there was no cash to be found. Everyone on the streets picked up the cash on the road.

Read the article for more details.

Doo Dah

I was going to go to the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena on Sunday, but we had a Sunday School teacher's meeting so we missed it. That's one wacky parade. Whereas the Rose Parade is the classic grand daddy of all parades, the Doo Dah parade is a nonreverential black sheep of parades. There are all sorts of weird things to see there.

I'm still waiting for Lost and Battlestar Galactica to start again. Damn this writer's strike.

Saturday, I helped Andy move from his Downtown loft to Fullerton. We also stopped by his parent's place to pick up some more furniture in Monrovia. I helped him move for 12 hours. He needed a new place for his bride-to-be when they get married on March 22, 2008.

Andy was cool enough to give me his Xbox 360. Now, I have to get a HDTV, because I can hardly see the small words on my standard definition television. Already, my eyes are getting noticeably worse than before. I'm not sure what is better to get, an LCD or a plasma tv.

I had to get my Hyundai fixed too, because my "Check Engine" light came on. I replaced 2 O2 sensors and replaced my front wheel axle. It cost me about $400. They say I should get a head gasket job done too which would cost me about $900. The repair costs are starting to add up now that my Hyundai has over 100,000 miles on it. It still is cheaper than buying a new car.

Team Motobecane

Andy and I went cycling Saturday. He bought a Motobecane Vent Noir ("Black Wind") road bike. Black Wind either sounds sinister or like a case of bad gas. Together with my Motobecane Nemesis Triathlon/Time-Trial bike, we make Team Motobecane. We should get sponsored by Motobecane.

Another Bike Accident

I was cycling yesterday after work to train for the triathlon when a car made a left turn right in front of me. I squeezed the brakes real hard and flipped over on my bike. The car just took off. I kissed the ground. At first I thought my face had road rash on it, because it felt like it. I just have road rash on my arms, elbows, knees, and fingers. When I got home, I looked in the mirror and my face was okay, fortunately, because I wouldn't want to ruin this beautiful face. I just had dirt on my nose and lips and chin from kissing the dirt.

My front bike wheels need to be trued, because it's slightly bent. I need new brakes and my gears need a major tune-up 'cuz they're jacked up.

Damn you crazy drivers!

Thank goodness I have 9 lives. I think I've used them all up by now. Hopefully, this won't be my last. I need to collect some more 1-ups.

Another weird thing happened at work yesterday. All three toilets at my office floor were flooded. They were filled to the brim with brown liquid crap and the floors were flooded. Someone must have had diarrhea and clogged the toilets with too much toilet paper. I went all the way downstairs to use the restroom and found that everyone was using the toilets there pooping too. Since I don't have access to any of the other floors, I had to go all the way to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel to use the restroom. All the other office buildings around me require their own keycards to get through the buildings. Dang people! Don't put too much t.p. in the toilets!!

Over Drive

Sugoi! ("Amazing!" or "Cool!" in Japanese)

This anime is about road bicycle racing, and it's sugoi!

It reminds me of Initial D, an anime about drift racing on twisty mountain roads in Japan with venerable cars like the Toyota AE86 and the Mazda RX-7. Although there were a lot of races in Initial D, Over Drive's first season is all about one big long race of 168 km (over 100 miles).

This young kid, Mikoto Shinozaki, is a 15 year old high school kid. He's small and gets picked on by some bullies. He falls in love with a cute girl in his class. He draws pictures of her in her bikini. She sees his drawings and slaps him silly. She asks Shinozaki to join the bicycle club. At first, he can't even ride a bike. He keeps practicing to impress her. Then, a short time later, he and his bicycle club friends enter a local bike race. He promises that he won't disappoint her.

This is a great combination of anime and road bike racing. The beginning starts off kind of slow. The first ten episodes is about Shinozaki meeting the cute girl and the events leading up to the race. The next fourteen episodes is about the big long race. There's a lot of flashbacks concerning each of the characters. It's kind of childish sometimes, but funny and cool most of the time. I like more mature anime, especially mecha, like Macross, Robotech, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and Appleseed. I'm not talking about hentai when I'm talking about anime for adults. Japanese have very perverted tastes like hentai involving school girls getting raped by tentacles.

Anime always makes characters seem older than they're supposed to be. The upper class high school kids seem to look like they should be in their twenties. They portrayed a 30 year cyclist as an old man.

Anyway, Over Drive motivates me to cycle harder in preparation for the triathlon later this year. If they cycle in the pouring rain up steep mountains and bike 'til they drop, then I must train that hard too. Too bad I have so many hobbies and interests. All of them take up too much time. I need to be able to focus on one thing.

Follies in Court

One of the most interesting things I've seen in court is a motor scooter inside the well of the courtroom. I was addressing the court while a scooter was between me and the judge. It could have been a trial exhibit or it could have been the judge's ride.

Another time, I saw a judge that I appeared in front of before cycling to court. He brought his bike inside his chambers. I thought it was cool to see a judge cycling. Maybe I could bring my bike to court next time.

You know how cramped the seats are in court, right? Well I was trying to get out of the seats when my case was called. I tried to be careful, but had to hurry at the same time. I tripped on someone's foot and the judge laughed. Well, she knew who I was because I appeared many times in front of her.

Monrovia Canyon

Sarah and I were going to go the Rose Parade, but I didn't want to deal with the headaches of finding parking and finding a place to watch it with all those hundreds of thousands of fools. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena is jam packed with people for 5 1/s miles. Maybe I'll be a fool next year and watch it. But who knows? I've been making that same excuse for years.

We went hiking instead to Monrovia Canyon. We saw 6 deer there. It would have been a great place for hunters. Although I do not condone hunting for sport. I think it's okay for survival like in Man vs. Wild. I don't think even Bear Grylls can eat an entire deer though. He seems to be okay just eating live bugs.

Monrovia Canyon is a beautiful place to hike even though it's so close to home. I want to explore more of the trails there.

UFC 79 Nemesis

Josh and I saw UFC 79 Nemesis at Park's Bar and Grill in Burbank. At first, Josh didn't want to go in there, because he felt that the place was too scummy looking. He went to Hooter's, but they weren't showing it there for some reason. Then, we had no choice but to watch it at Park's. We had some Persian food somewhere else and came back. I ate some falafel and hummus with pita bread. It filled me up because I ate the whole thing.

When we got back, there weren't any seats left. At least we could stand and watch the tv screens, of which there were plenty of. Park's wasn't that bad of a place after all.

I predicted the winners of the fights beforehand. I thought George St. Pierre was going to beat Matt Hughes and that Chuck Lidell would crush Wanderlei Silva. I also knew who was going to win the other fights in the lesser known matches. I should have placed bets on these fights and made some money. But I think if I gambled, I would lose all my money. I'm just unlucky that way.

Too bad we can't go back to the good ol' days of the time of gladiators when they fought to the death. There was also a movie about underground fighting starring Jet Li in the movie, Unleashed. The people in the matches all had their unique fighting styles and had to fight each other to the death. Watching those fights brings out the ferocious animals in all of us.

Another Asian punk at the sports bar also got his testosterone pumping after watching the matches. He started yelling at this old guy asking why are you staring at me?! The old guy said that he was just watching the tv screen and that the punk was standing in front of it blocking his view. The big fat punk wanted to fight, but other guys told him to calm down. I was standing right there in front of them and could have said something, but I kinda wanted to see a fight for some reason. One time at a club several years ago, I broke up a fight at a Korean club. Maybe I should have let them duke it out too.

Whenever I watch something on tv, I start acting like the protagonists. If I watch UFC, I want to beat people up. If I see Dracula, I want to bite people on the neck, etc. This feeling only lasts until I watch a different movie. Then, I act like people on the latest film I've watched. I have a very short attention span. Maybe I should start watching less tv.

3 Spoon Delight

I had dinner with Chris and Josh last night, and things haven't changed much in 16 years. We had Chinese food, and Chris still eats like a bird. Girls would love to have a "small gas tank stomach" like him. He gets real hungry all of the time, but only needs to eat a few bites before he complains that he's so full.

I'm sad to hear that Josh is moving yet again back to Las Vegas. I'm betting that he'll be back in a couple of years.

After dinner, we went to Josh's favorite place for dessert at Nicole's Cafe at Ktown Plaza. We ordered our usual dessert that we've been ordering for many years, Pot Bing Su. It's a Korean dessert that has red beans over shaved ice, fruit, and ice cream. The barrista automatically knew to give us 3 spoons. Even though we love it, we sit in the corner so nobody can see us sharing the dessert together. I guess we don't want people to think we're gay. We've been doing this since college. Some things just don't change.

More Ghetto Skiing

More skiless skiing.

Sledless Snowsledding

Here's a quick clip of Mikey sledding by the seat of his pants. If we used the snowsled I bought, then he would probably be flying down...right over the rocks.

Ghetto Skiing

Yeah, that's right! You don't need a pair of skis to ski. You just a need a pair of low grip sneakers in icy snow. I did much better when I wasn't on camera. I always mess up and fall when I'm being taped.

Snow Day

We tried to go snow sledding, but there wasn't enough snow. We still had fun playing around in the snow. We had to drive up to 7000 feet in order to see some snow. Most of the snow melted after a week. This was Mikey's first time seeing the snow.

Then, we went to my parents' house to have an xmas bbq. Sae Woon and Christine cooked the New York steaks. Nothing like a good bbq steak for xmas.