Pizzelles and Cantaloupe...

Inspired by an inside joke that Neil, Gabrielle, and I had regarding antelopes and gazelles...

Tru Experience

Decadent Breakfast and Afternoon Treat

Fried Dough with Strawberry topping, whipped cream, and nuts from Navy Pier.
Sticky bun french toast with blueberry and pecans.

Bistro Zinc

A nice little bistro in North Michigan.
Puff pastry with stew du jour of pork and apples.
Warm salad with duck confit and roasted pistachio.
Coque du vin with mushroom, bulb onions, and egg noodles.

Great view and Deep Dish Pizza!

This is the view from our hotel. Great view of the Wrigley Building and the river. Deep dish pizza from Giordano's:

Chicago Food!

Just to make you guys drool!

Dinner at Lao Shanghai:





Dessert from Grand Lux Cafe:

Mid Ohio 2008

Happy Birthday Eric!

Happy Birthday to my other brother Eric!!

By the way, that Sushi buffet was awesome! For anybody who is in the area and looking for a cool restaurant, check out Yellowtail in Fairlawn. Great food and service!!

Happy Birthday Eric!!

Happy Birthday to my brother Eric!

The STi is broken in!

I hit 1k this morning on my way to work. Now the fun begins!!



I->S#

My brother matched!

My brother got matched to a cardiology fellowship at the University of Missouri! I'm so excited for him. Although I'll miss him since he'll be further away than he has ever been before! Congratulations!!! Also congrats to his girlfriend, Sarah who matched to the University of Virginia also for a cardiology fellowship! Time for a celebration!!

Rally Drivers and Fast Cars

I've always said that Rally Drivers are some of the best drivers in the world (Colin McRae RIP). But there is no doubt that F1 cars are the fastest! Another excellent clip from TopGear.

Cool STi Commercial

My next mod...

Installed TWM Abrams M1 RL Shift Knob

Installed my birthday gift from my brother and his girlfriend! A beautiful shift knob from TWM Performance!

Stocker:Side-by-side comparison:The TWM knob sits a little lower than the stock. Feels great in the hand and because it's weighted, shifting is noticeably different. I love how the satin finish matches the STi interior.

Josephine Chan, BA, PhD, CCRP, and MBA!!!

CONGRATULATION to my awesome wife who just finished her MBA degree at the Weatherhead School of Management! I can't believe you finished two degrees before I finished one!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

STi Intercooler...

Pictures from my latest mod. STi on the TMIC.

Making sure everything was covered up to avoid overspill. This was after I took off the paper that I basically wrapped the entire engine bay with.
This is how it turned out. The paint lines are sharp, no fuzzies! It's good to take your time when making the outline and make sure you use high quality painter's tape.
You can actually see the logo through the scoop. Very subtle if you just walk by you might even miss it!

My STi

Had some fun with Lambo over the weekend. Went to an empty parking lot and took some pics of our cars. Had a lot of fun! This was of course after a clay bar treatment (had some rough areas in the paint) and two coats of wax! I also put on some Rally Armor mud flaps to try to keep the car clean. There were some complaints that the AWD was kicking up too much dirt and damaging the paint! I'll post the other pics in a web slideshow soon. The above was my favorite photo!

This is driving...

Crabby Dinner!

Josephine celebrated her promotion by treating us to a seafood feast! We had giant stone crabs and clams! It was delicious! I think crabs are one of my favorite foods. My favorite would have to be king crab but stone crabs and blue crabs are a real close second. Thanks honey! And congratulations on your promotion. You'll do great!

Freakin' Cool Stove

This stove from Fisher & Paykel in New Zealand would make me want to cook everyday! Everything retracts to a smooth clean surface. It even has a LCD display to let you know how hot the stove is.

Dreams do come true...

Introducing my new 2008 WRX Sti.

Two days of one mans life recorded...

This is a video of a man trapped in the elevator for almost 2 days. I feel really bad for this poor guy! It's almost like a psychology experiment gone totally wrong! Notice the fetal position. What's interesting is that he will try to open the door every once in a while just to reaffirm his situation. I wonder what was going through his head! At 12-13 hours I think he actually begins talking to himself. This man will need to go through therapy after an ordeal like this! I can't believe nobody noticed him! What are security cameras for if nobody is watching!!! The video is time lapsed. I wonder what he did when nature called?

Apparently, this happened several years ago. The man ended up getting a small settlement and has lost his job since. Sad...

Analog or digital?

I'm a big fan of watches. Not sure if it's a guy thing but I am willing to bet there is a gene on the Y chromosome that makes guys dig watches. And this my friends is hands down one of the coolest watches I have ever seen! It's a completely analog watch with no digital pieces or use of LEDS. The description of the thing makes me want it even more even if I don't understand it!
The mechanically operated digital display of the second timezone shows tens of hours, single hours, tens of minutes and single minutes, all displayed by mobile microsegments driven by an assemblage of 23 cams connected to a set of gears and a triggering and synchronization system. The time information is displayed by an array of 23 horizontally and vertically positioned microsegments. Vertical segments are 9 mm high and weigh at most 25 milligrams while the horizontal segments measure 2.90 mm in length and weigh only 10 milligrams. The segments have four faces: two opposing visible faces fitted with colored strips and two opposing unmarked faces. Time changes are effected by 90° rotations of the required segment or segments. Involving one to twelve segments, time changes are lightning fast.Is it too early to start a Christmas wish list?? The limited-edition Di Grisogono Meccanica DG is top on my list!

Devil May Cry 4

I have the best wife in the world! She surprised me with a new game on Sunday for no reason at all! I've been trying to save money for a new car so I have been holding back on buying video games. The last game I bought was COD4 in December!! Definitely the longest period of time between new games! Well, in my spare time, I'll answer Nero's call! Thanks honey!

My Grand Mentor...

What an exciting day! I got to listen to J. Craig Venter give a seminar today on his exciting career and what he sees as the future of science. Dr. Venter is the founder of Celera and the brains behind the sequencing of the human genome. He also happens to be the mentor of my mentor, Mark Adams. This makes him my grand mentor! One of his many projects involves collecting genes from organisms around the world mostly from the Sorcerer II (below). Now the exciting part, with millions of genes in his collective database as his tools, he plans to build artificial organisms custom made to perform specific functions. One exciting application would be the production of biofuels. It's no wonder he was ranked by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and one of the top 3 scientist of our time.
I'm so honored to be a part of his academic lineage. I hope that I can accomplish just a fraction of what he has already done! Todays talk was such an inspiration to work harder and believe that nothing is impossible. (From left to right: Gabrielle Nickel, Mark Adams, Craig Venter, Me)

Pittsburgh is not so bad after all.

Took a nice day trip to Pittsburgh this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. It's actually a very pretty city with the three rivers and all the bridges. We got there early in the morning and walked around the market. Went to Wholly's seafood market and had some fried calamari and clams. Delicious. Then we got a coffee and did some window shopping. For lunch we wen to Primanti Brother's for their almost famous panini sandwhich and a cup of chili.

After that we went to Ikea and walked around. Got a nice little lamp and night light. Then we went back into the city and took a ride on a cable car up the Duquesne Incline. We later realized it was probably better to drive up there and save a few bucks! We also drove past another incline which we decided to call the Fuquesne Incline. It's funny when you pronounce it all loud.

We got dinner for free at Hooters at Station Square. It was obviously an area that once was hot but now was quickly becoming a ghost town. Next time we'll have to pick out a nice restaurant on Carson. I'll take any suggestions!

The STi on GT5

My favorite car in my favorite game. Wish I had one of these!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ERIC AND MARI!

A new life has come into the world! Baby Noah!

Selling Out...

Wow... This phrase has never been so true. Tom Clancy has sold his name to Ubisoft makers of all my favorite games including Assassin's Creed and all the Tom Clancy based series Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. Tom Clancy is still able to use his name in books and movies and such but when it comes to videogames, Ubisoft owns the name! That must have been one big paycheck!

Gran Turismo 5 Envy

This is a screen shot from the upcoming GranTurismo5 Prologue. The latest installment from Polyphony Digital in their extremely successful driving simulator series. This is the reason to get a PS3!!! It is the game that made me doubt my purchase of getting a 360. With the first installment of Forza, I really thought I would not miss the GT series. Visual damage to the car a great feeling simulator and unlimited customization of cars all on the LIVE network. However the lack of diversity in the tracks (they are basically all circuit tracks), I miss racing in Tokyo on the streets and in the Alps for a few rally races. GranTurismo5 is begging me to buy a PS3. Hmmm... I wonder if Josephine would..... I still have time... GT5 Prologue ships April 17th.... Come on honey! Just look at the picture!!!