internet book database?

thining about my last post on books, it made me wonder why there isn't an internet book database ala imdb.com. anyone know why?

lion, the witch and the super long wait

today i read two pieces in the times about two different books/series i've read recently, a feast for crows and the chronicles of narnia.

the first article covers the song of fire and ice, my favorite series for the past few years. it definitely paints a much grimmer picture than the lord of the rings, but at the same time it is more captivating because of its realistic depictions. i may have mentioned it earlier, but i did wait three hours to get my copy signed by the author, described by the articles author as "about 100 pounds overweight, ... like a rotund elf or Santa Claus." i highly recommend this series for any fan of the fantasy genre. the only negative about it is the two year wait between books in the series...

narnia is the subject of the second article, an op/ed piece. like the author, i also didn't realize that the stories were of a christian nature. however, after picking up mere christianity (but not getting a chance to read it), and after i saw a preview for the movie series, i became intrigued and re-read the entire series. a much shorter read than tolkien (the whole 8-9 books is less than the ring trilogy). this second time around, i was amazed at how christian the series is, and how i had forgotten the crazy plot twist at the very end! if you don't remember the series, and have time to spare, i recommend picking it up if only for a light, youthful read.

while i'm on the subject of books, i'll just share what i'm reading now - straight man. jordan recommended this book to me after i remarked that i wasn't impressed by richard russo's empire falls, which won the pulitzer prize (and that i picked up for $1 at the big sf book sale). he assured me that straight man is a much more entertaining read. luckily for me, he was right. i hopped on the wrong train after work today, and by the time i realized i was deep into queens, i didn't mind because i was enjoying the book so much. i think i may have even laughed out loud in the train...

austin powers

today i popped my celebrity sighting cherry! ken, devy and i were talking on the corner of 6th ave and bedford/houston when i see this guy crossing the street towards us on houston. i look closely as he passes by, and i quitely say to ken and devy, "that was just mike myers," to which ken confirms my sighting by shouting "hey mike!" and having him turn around with a tired/confused expression.

not bad for my first sighting, and it was cool how it looked like he was just walking home, looking like everyone else with a hat (beanie as we say in ca), headphones and in everyday dress. now i wonder who i'll spot next...

still connected!

wow... i'm trying not to get too excited, but my internet connection has been working for the past few days straight!

yummy food

hope everyone had a great weekend. i had a good one, thanks in no small part to a few great restaurants. first, i kicked off my weekend at my temp agency's holiday party. if anyone is looking for legal work here, update legal is a great agency. they came highly recommended and did not disappoint. after a brief stop for free drinks and hor dourves, i rushed back home, changed and made it back out to meet up with thomas, who i met at eric tam's wedding in sf. i soon learned that this was the one big asian party of the night, and ran into a bunch of other people - rachel and friends, julie (a lambda lil sis from ca), tammy, and mike owh and his buddy chris, accompanied by penny, who i knew back in our early days of greek life. anyways, it was apretty fun, albeit uneventful night.

saturday i met up with my cousin ken and his girlfriend renee (hope i'm spelling that right) for lunch. i decided on ino, which gerald raves about, and it was delicious. the paninos did not look filling, but they were quite substantial and affordable. the truffled egg toast was possibly the best egg dish i've ever had. i definitely will be back, especially as it's only a few blocks away. they also score points in my book for having a place on the wall for you to hang your jacket on. i hate just draping it on my chair and having parts of my jacket gtting dirty on the ground.

for dessert, i took them to rice to riches in soho. it was also my first time, and i must say that i wasn't too impressed. maybe i'm just not a big fan of rice pudding (although i did get an excellent serving from an old lady selling desserts in cancun - one peso for a styrofoam cupful). the one bonus s that you get a little spoon and reusable bowl with your order.

then for dinner devy and i went to kati roll in the east village. anoter rec from gerald, and i love this place too. it's basically an indian wra sandwich, with a naan-type bread wrapped around either chicken, beef, cottage cheese or spicy potato (add egg if desired). i've had the chicken and potato, but we tried the chicken with egg, and it was by far the best. i can't wait for my next kati roll.

devy and i kicked off this morning with a loaf of seminola raisin fennel bread from amy's bread (once again, gerald's rec). we munched on it (as i am doing now with he remains of the loaf), until we decided on brunch at shopin's. i'd always seen this place packed, and wanted to give it a shot. the service and ambiance were interesting, but the food was unquestionably excellent. check out the menu on their website to see how much crazy stuff they have. i ordered the cain and abel (pastrami, corned beef and chease omelette with rye bread), devy got the blister on my sister (some egg, tortilla concotion, with chicken, avocado, rice and cheese), and we split an order of cubed hass potatoes. i will also certainly be back, but without my cellphone, and in a part of less that four (they have very strict rules).

finally for dinner today, devy finished off her leftovers (huge portions at shopsin's), and i cooked pasta with italian sausage. nothing fancy worth taking pictures of, but still tasty.

now i just need to exercise/diet all next week to make up for the feast i enjoyed this weekend...

outsourcing: what's next?

just finished reading an article in the times about virtual sweatshops in china. that's just crazy. what happened to good old fashioned hard work, blood, sweat and guts? how will you know how to defeat that beholder or lich if you've never even battled kobolds or goblins? personally, i consider the two weeks my ultima online character spent chopping wood, carving bows, slowly increasing his strength and dexterity, as valuable "character" building (horrible pun intended). if i still played mmpgs i wouldn't be using one of these characters born with a silver spoon (in this case, silver dagger +3 of protection)...

web 2.0

during downtime at work, i like to search the web for articles related to litigation support in order to learn more about my field (which is supposed to experiencing quite the technological revolution). while browsing a few blogs, i came across an interesting pot about web 2.0. before I go further, here are links to the original sources:

LAWTECH GURU BLOG
What Is Web 2.0 article by Tim O'Reilly

the interesting table which caught my eye was:

Web 1.0 --> Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation --> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management systems --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication

anyways, interesting article and blog. just heard back from the attorney, gotta get back to work!

harry potter

anyone remember when it came out? before watching it with gerald, susana and danielle, we enjoyed a nice korean lunch, from which i brought home some kalbi tang (short-rib soup) leftovers. they still tasted good this past weekend (or was it last week?), and i was hoping to have them as a late night snack yesterday. here what it looked like:



not too appetizing, but it still smelled ok. maybe it would look better in a bowl?



not really.

i called gerald to see if he thought it was still edible, and he sounded horrified that i even still had it in the fridge. not willing to risk experiencing my own "goblet of fire," i remembered that i had some leftover homemade bread and an empenada that mrs. nijjar gave me. it ended up being very tasty with the green sauce from sophie's cuban cuisine (sorry no website, but i keep a stash of their green sauce in my fridge).

heavy snow

wow, woke up this morning and the snow was really coming down. however, i was less excited than i would have thought, probably due to watching coverage of the plane that slid off the runway in chicago last night. now i know what a "severe storm alert" means...

I just learned

that i can post to my blog simply by sending an email! this way i can
look like i am working productively, while actually informing the world
(all five of my readers), of my current thoughts!

however, i'll probably keep this as a minimum, as one thing i've learned
working in litigation in a law firm is that companies really do track
(or at least have the ability to track) every single email that you ever
send, as well as every single file attachment, aim conversation, etc.
slackers beware!