MERRY X-MAS TO YOU ALL... JUST WANTED TO POP IN AND SAY HI!!!!

As far as x-mas gifts I have gotten so far:
1) Phone (courtesy of our blue elephant)
2) Car trash holder, trunk organizer and travel cooler (courtersy of Ariel's kris kringle party)
3) Buffy DVD both 1st and 2nd season
4) A big art frame from pottery barn
5) some aromatherapy soaps
6) SIMS "HOT DATE" for the comp... (I'm actually going to change it to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City b/c my comp can't handle the SIMS)
7) Volleyball and volleyball knee pads so I won't scrape my knees anymore

I think that's about it so far... I'll let you know how this last weekend went when I have more time... Hope to hear from you all soon!

PHIL

Thursday 12.12.02
12:33 PM
UCD computer lab

***
Days until Christmas: 13
Days until Christine's birthday: 10
Days until White Elephant: 9
***

Current mood / state of being: Excited to have finished finals, tired from the lack of sleep, and frustrated that I'm stuck on campus because I missed the bus.
Weather outside: Colder than a mothereffer. Beanie, scarf, gloves - check, check and check. But I'm still cold?
Pains in my: back, from sitting on this computer chair for so long
Not stressed about: school. yay for christmas breaks
Stressed about: getting prepped and organized for the quickly approaching lacrosse season. Opening game day: February 8, game site TBA. That's in 57 days!
Hot list: Oregon basketball, blue elephants, Boyz II Men's "Christmas Interpretations" (always a holiday classic), hot chocolate, lacrosse (no really, cmon lacrosse is so in right now) and everyone who still checks this
Way cold: that damn j-lamo song, finals, physics, my apartment, and everyone reading this but still not writing
Luke-warm: MLS (because nothing's really going on and they're toying with my emotions by delaying the whole Donovan deal), and JC Chasez's new song ( do I like it, does it suck? tough call right now)

20 more minutes til the bus gets here.
~Taft

*Phil sits at his desk after a emotional roller-coaster day*

Today was my co-worker Roselle's b-day.. for those of you who don't know... she basically is my sidekick at work... we act pretty much the same... like the same things and also play on the same v-ball team... we spend more time with each other than our own significant others... anyway... I was trying to do payback for my b-day in which she posted a picture of me eating cake all over the company on my b-day which I thought was pretty embarassing... so I decided I had to do the same... so basically after getting her fiance's contact info as well as figuring out one of her sister's e-mail address, I was able to retrieve a picture of her back when she was 16... Not only was it a young picture, but it was HYSTERICAL.. she look like she was laughing so hard she was crying.. anyway it was basically her 1st drunk expereince so I thought it would be great to post it up within the dept (company rules now forbid b-day postings around company walls)... anyway basically spending an hour last night and hour this morning (I got to work at miraculously at 7:15 a.m) I decorated her desk...I basically put her picture everywhere (e.g. under her calculator, on CD covers, on her screen, inside picture frames, in binders, on 12,3,6,9 spots on a clock etc) unfortunately when she got there... she was mortified.. not only did she start tearing down the pictures, she started crying... I couldn't believe it!! To make the long story short.. it was a bad memory to her and hit her hard... she said that if it was any other picture it would have been fine.. but how I was supposed to know? I was only using the picture that her sister (who Roselle now hates) gave me.. but anyway...

Lesson learned: before you use a picture figure out its context... (however the prank was still funny)

Also, just wanted to let everyone know I got my 1st own x-mas tree.. woohoo.. W/ some garland, silver ornaments, and some personalized ornaments... I have almost completed the decoration of the tree...

Also.. I just purchased my white elephant gift... I think you guys will like it... I think... anyway I know someone will want it that's for sure =)

Ok hope to hear from you all soon...

PHIL

*Phil takes a break from "ratchet clank" his newest PS2 game to post his weekly weekend-recap blog*

Hi all,

Anyway hope all of you are having a happy holiday season.. Mine is going so far so good... anyway just wanted to let y'all know how my week/end went...

Friday I really did nothing but sit around and vedge.. I have yet to feel the clubbing/partying urge that us 20+ something year old should be having by now... the fact that I only go occassionally means either a) I"m too tired from work to go on a regular basis or b) I don't like clubbing/partying regularly... I'd have to go with the first one... work just tires me out... that's all I think about the whole day... I guess it's a good thing considering I don't fall asleep at my desk b/c I'm so busy every single minute of the day... but getting back to the weeeknd..

Saturday I did major shopping. However, I decide to accompany Mr Ariel to our hair stylists.. He decided to get some copperish-reddish whatever you call it highlights for his hair... Now I told him I didn't want to go at first b/c I thought it would take long.. however, he coerced me into going. I decided to call one of my berk friends to hang out with while he was at the haircutters... after staying about an hour at my friend's house, I left to go back to pick-up Ariel (thinking he'd be done as well as the fact that my berk friend had to leave to go apt-hunting)... Anyway I come back to find Ariel sitting on a chair waiting for the color to settle in his hair. I"m like "SEE I KNEW IT WOULD TAKE FOREVER" and all he could do was smile.... I was so impatient... after all that... anyway...so I decide instead of sitting there for another hour I decided to go buy myself a car charger for my new phone... (which by the way has improved my reception in my condo by 100%) so all you people who call me at home know that's an improvement... Anyway by the time I get back, Ariel is just about done getting his hair done.. TOTAL TIME AT THE STYLIST: 2 AND A HALF HOURS!

Ok, so now I'm in annoyed mode b/c I have spent 2 1/2 hours killing time while Ariel colors his hair so we decide to go grab something to eat at Carl's Jr in Alameda.. There, I found that they were selling Giants Bobbleheads (more specifically Nen, Aurilia, Shinjo (oh sucks cuz he ain't no more giant) and I forgot the last one... and a 2002 giants game ball... so of course, I had to buy one and got the ball... Oh and before I forget, I just received my 2002 Barry Bonds commemorative 600 home run bobblehead... =)... I just have to share that the one thing great about it is that it has a manual counter so you can adjust it for everytime Barry hits another home run... ain't that somethin...

Anyway after eating, Ariel and I did some major shopping at Mervyn's.. yes Mervyn's.. I bought some toss-pillows, a kris kringle gift for Ariel's group of friends... and lots of socks... I spent so much I got a $20 giftcard for the next purchase for this week... =) After going to Mervyn's.. Ariel and I decided to go to BR and GAP to use our friends and family card (compliments of Christine) and yet of course... I bought tons of new work shirts as well as a nice woven sweater... TOTAL DAMAGE: $100 (which includes some stuff Ariel bought), so it wasn't TOO bad...

OH and check this out we go to Blockbuster to buy some DVD"s and there is a buy 2 get 1 free deal.. so we decide to get 3 dvd's all priced 12.99-14.99 how come the guy rings it up as $2.99 each.. what a steal.. how lame is he... what a sucker.. but what the hell better for us..

Anyway I haven't got to Sunday yet but I dont' want to bore you all.. if you want to hear how my sunday went (which includes a "I"ll never forget moment" pls sent a reply back. =)

Ok talk to you all later

PHIL

Friday 12.06.02 (Days until Christmas: 19)
12:18 PM
UCD Computer Lab


3 new blogs since my last visit! That's definitely a record. Still MIA: Regan, Jeff, Nick, Anup, and Michelle. Come out, come out wherever you are.

Another reason why I love sports: the Maryland-Indiana game on Tuesday. Classic. I can't believe we're all older than these players now. Since soccer's on a brief hiatus, college hoops will have to be the filler until the MLS season gets rolling.

It's official. I've been named the head coach of the UCD club team that I played for these last two years. So come January to May, it's off to lacrosse land once again. I told myself last year that I was going to take a break from everything and not do anything lacrosse-related. Well that idea only lasted a good three months and now I'm up in the mix again. If anything, it'll be good experience for me to coach at the college level. And it fits perfectly into preparing to set up my grandmaster plan of establishing a lacrosse powerhouse at USF once I return home.

Weekend Plans: Study, study, study. Physics is kickin my ass, so I need to buckle down and hit the books to prep for next week's finals. On a brighter note, yo tengo un A en mi clase de espanol. Si, si, es muy bueno.

Hasta luego!
~Taft

So Ed, Tiff, and Nick (the prankaholics)

Let us know the latest pranks that have occurred.. those seem to be very interesting from what I hear... What's everyone's plan for the weekend??

Anyway get back to me when you can...

PHIL

Hmmmm, let me think....good pranks? I've got a few up my sleeve.

For starters, I'd break into somebodies room and rearrange and decorate all their stuff while they're on vacation. Make sure you use pink as your primary color in the redecorating process. Then I'd take all their boxers and maybe even all their shoelaces and hide them. But I'd be careful with pranks like that because I'm guessing the person you do it to is gonna look for some big time payback.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

Hey I think I'm missing a shoe lace.

ECP

**tiff sitting at her desk eating a doughnut**

hello all! that is, if we still have lurkers around. i'm back...please hold your applause...hahahaha. it surely has been a while since i've blogged. i found new friends...yeah right. the last time i visited blogland was when i was about to leave for boston. dang, that's a long time! anyways, i had a great time in boston. but the funniest/scariest thing that happened to me occurred while i was flying across the country en route to boston. i had a whole row to myself so i was sleeping sprawled out...SWEET. but i woke up in a cold sweat and felt all nauseated so i went to the bathroom. got to the bathroom, closed the door, and i BLACKED OUT. i woke up on the dirty airplane bathroom floor. holy christ, i felt dirty! so i got up, washed my face, and i passed out AGAIN. yup, woke up again on the nasty floor. so i got out of the bathroom from hell and the flight attendant asked if i was ok. i guess i made such a HUGE thud sound that they were worried. they ended up giving me an oxygen tank to revive me. oxygen never felt so good! so that was the most memorable thing that happened to me on my boston trip. boston was great too!

i've also been gettin adjusted to my new job. its pretty chill and the people here are pretty relaxed. can't really complain. still trying to find my way around but i'm just gonna take my time.

~thanks tiff for hosting another successful thanksgiving potluck. ambiance was excellent and all the dressed up company was even better. thanks again for hosting and letting us "compliment" Kalua. sorry i missed out on taboo. i heard jefe and michelle were the all-stars of the game =)
~congratulations to phil on your best game ever in volleyball! sorry it didn't help with winning the championship. but you will tear another hole in them next season! ouchie!
~what i want for x-mas: peace on earth and goodwill towards me (did you get that ed? goodwill!), a car that isn't a tin can, a jp tod's bag (retails for $1,200!!!!!), new wardrobe, a house, a non-profit job that pays a gazillion dollars - i guess all i really need is a job that pays a gazillion dollars! all i REALLY want is for everyone to enjoy their holidays with their friends and family.
~another question for everyone: do any of you know of any good pranks? please submit to me via email =)

if any of you lurkers have a chance, post some blogs. we would love to hear what's going on with you. just like how you guys and gals love to hear from me ...heehee =P

laters gators,
tiff lam

Phil returns home from an exhausting final playoffs game... For those of you who don't know.. I've been in a Mervyn's v-ball league for 3 season now... first season we won the championship, second season we lost in the finals.... this season we weren't sure where we would fair... with half of last season's players returning and several new faces... we fought hard... finishing 2nd (10-3) in the regular season we got a forfeit in the 1st round... tonight was semifinals and finals... Our semifinal game was a 3-set nail biter... luckily we picked ourselves up from a 3rd set 7-2 deficit and overcame to win 8-15 to go to the finals... Our final game,however, wasn't so lucky.. After taking the early lead in both sets.. we gave up our lead by beating ourselves and lost the championship for the 2nd straight season... oh well... by the way, Sylv, Michelle, and Ariel all came to watch me. THANKS GUYS FOR COMING.... anyway I hope to get some more practice for next season so I can play more aggressively (though I must say that tonight's game was the best of my life, even the opponents said so) =)

As far as thanskgiving dinner... kudos to all who came and brought the bomb-ass food... kudos especially to the people that brought the Tapa.. that was awesome... oh wait that was Michelle and I... hehehehe.. as a tribute to our annual 7th thanksgiving (isn't it 7) dinner.. I wanted to do a letterman and do the top 10 things NOT to do at the dinner here goes

TOP 10 THINGS NOT TO DO AT TIFFANY'S AFTER-THANSKGIVING DAY DINNER

10 Come late if you can prevent it. Otherwise, you miss all the good food... and not everyone will get to try what you bring cuz they are already full
9 Tell Veronique about boys... she gets too excited
8 Put Jeff and Michelle on the same team for Taboo.. actually just never put them on the same team period.
7. Tease Kahula to the point of trauma.. at one point she was just staring at the wall and wasn't even caring that we were still eating
6. Guys: never tell girls that you watch Gilmore Girls.. unless you want your soft side to show
5. Cook only 3 cups of rice when there is about 16 people and several meat choices.. (you know Asians in particular, need our rice!)
4. Play the same CD over and over again to the point where you can name every track on it in order
3. Dress up and then decide half way through dinner to change into a sweatshirt and jeans regardless of how uncomfortable you may feel
2. Show up to the dinner w/o any food... (it's potluck duh)
1. Give Kahula anything to eat.. can't you tell she eats enough already????

Warning: Please note that the above was only intended for entertainment purposes... any harmful or damaging information was not intentional and should not be taken seriously. (dont' ya like my ad-like label warning)

Hope you all enjoyed my top 10 things..

As far as what I would like for x-mas...
1) to get my varekai (cirque du soleil show) poster custom framed
2) get a phone charger for my new cell phone
3) Buffy DVD's
4) Anything for my patio
5) Car accessories (more specifically a hard tire cover and rack)

hmm.. anyway... I'll share more in a bit... I have to run now. it's getting late and I have to play my last game of cannasta for the evening

PHIL

(day after after after) Turkey Day
1:09 PM
UCD Computer Lab

Thanks to everyone who came out for yet another successful dinner. Good food, good times. I think yall gave my dog a complex from all the "compliments" about her massive weight. I know she's a bit heffer-ish, but hey, show the dog some love ok. Dogs have feelings too. :-)

It's safe to say that I can go for about two weeks without ever having to touch another piece of food.

What's up with this continued dry spell of missing blogs? I know I haven't been writing much lately because I really don't have much going on up here in Davis to really talk about. Do we need to throw out some questions to get this going again? Ok fine, here's one to get the ball rolling...

Name something you really want for Christmas this year.
Me: Either a) the "Our Way" DVD, a behind the scenes look at the U.S. team's performance in the World Cup or b) "The Osbournes" first season DVD

Remember to keep the date of SATURDAY DECEMBER 21 open for some White Elephant fun. $20-25 price range, no cd's, dvd's or gift certificates...so be creative.

Good luck to Phil in his upcoming volleyball game!

~Taft

Greetings all:

Anyway, just wanted to say WELCOME BACK ED.. I'm glad to see ya post... I
was wondering where'd ya been... Anyway, I feel your pain w/ Shinjo in that
Mr. Bell has become a philly fanatic.. yes, how unfortunate.. I have no idea
who they are going to replace Bell with.... I'm just annoyed he signed with
them... well screw him.. (for now)

Just wanted to let everyone know how my weekend went...

Friday - I actually got to see Harry Potter, "the chamber of secrets" with
Christine at AMC 1000... and talk about good timing.. I actually finally
found parking on Van Ness and Bush (which is like 6 blocks from the theatre)
and literally ran to the theatre (b/c the movie was starting in 5 min)..
There, I met Christine and we went to the theatre... the theatre was
packed.. luckily we spotted single seats on either side of this one asian
couple on the top row dead center and asked them to move so that Christine
and I could sit together... talk about lucky. =)... the movie itself was
great.. I still like the first one better.. but the second one had its
moment.. that dobby character kills me... I was sad that I didn't see
Hermione as much as I did the first movie b/c I think she's a real good
character they develop... anyway... before I give anything way I will
stop.... overall it's definitely a movie worth seeing at the theatre. in my
opinion... After the movie, I dropped my beanie somewhere and christine and
I were literally on hands and knees looking for it on the nasty, oily
floor... we had to finally wait for the theatre lights to go on for us to
finally find my hat which was stuck in a crevas in the seats in front of
us.. It was totally camouflaged so we would have never seen it without more
lighting..

Saturday - I basically played my new PS2 game Ratchet Clank.. It's a cool
game about a mouse-like character "ratchet" and his robot "clank" who go on
missions to find this "captain clark" (who kinda look like captain america)
in order to preserve the universe... the graphics are pretty cool and the
game is easy to follow... I dunno if the game is too easy b/c I think i'm
almost done.... At night, my sister, ariel, Lory, and I saw Cirque du Soleil
"varekai"... talk about some great acrobatic, daredevil feats.. my heart was
beating every minute they were flying through the air.. some of the acts
don't even have nets or spotters so it's a little scary... I had actually
seen this show on thurs with my dept (due to a dept contest we won) so I
already knew some of the acts.. however, I dozed on some parts on the
thursday matinee so I totally missed the love-scene that was basically woven
throughout the entire show... lamo I am..

Sunday - I basically went shopping in San francisco by myself while Ariel,
my sister, and the rest of their friends had make up consultation by
smashbox... I didn't realize that it was going to take 3 hours..so I
basically visited every guy-friendly clothing store imagineable downtown...
I think I've had my fill of downtown for a good week at least.. and you know
what the scary thing was.. I bought nothing.. yeah nothing.... eveything was
either not on sale, or if it was on sale, the sale prices was like reg
price... in any case.. I felt empowered shopping by myself. By the way talk
about a beautiful Union Square.. they really made that square look real
nice...


So hope everyone' week goes great.. I will see you all on friday...Also, my
mom is having a house blessing on sunday at my condo in case anyone is
interested, call me if you wanna come... it's going to be at 11 a.m. (yeah I
know early)....

My v-ball game is tomorrow... if we win, we take 2nd seed into playoffs, if
we lose 3rd seed.... Wish me luck... =)

Matsui who?

Don't leave Shinjo.......
remember the time I yelled your name when Dusty put you in as the second half of a double switch in the 7th inning of a blow-out?
remember the time i waved to you while you sat in the dugout combing your hair?
remember how i took your bobble head to softball games, fed him, and tucked in his blankie at night?
remember the time you looked in my direction as you were running back to the dugout after grounding out to second base?
remember the time i almost bought those bright orange wrist bands, but couldn't cause they were burning my retnas?
remember how i dyed my hair like yours after you singled in game 1, then said that i'd grow my hair like yours after you reached on an error in game 4?
remember how troy percival struck you out in game 7 and you made me cry like a little girl?
we've been through so much together, how can you just up and leave? wait did you hear that..........'twas my heart shattering into a thousand lifeless pieces. where have you gone joe dimaggio?...who cares...Garfunkel should rewrite the song to where will you go Tsyoushi Shinjo our nation cries it's lonley tears for you.
boo hoo hoo.

did you see me the other night.....30 points 16 rebounds 2 blocks 1 asssist.....as Stuart Scott said, "only 9 assists away from a triple double".

returned from hawaii on wednesday.....the meteorlogist guy in hawaii should have his job title changed to extended vacation guy. "aloha. me thinks it'll be nice outside today, back to you skip."......got my fair share of the 5 S's. sun, surf, snorkle, swim, and sleep....there were so many japanese people there i thought i saw shinjo at least 5 times.....usually your vacation ends when you step off the plane. mine ended the second united decided to show scooby doo starring Freddie Prinze Jr. as their inflight movie.

i meant Yao earlier, not me. so for clairification once again, i'm not Yao.

HUNKER DOWN FOR WAR.....tiff wants war she'll have it. she and her fellow munchkin pranksters decided to rearrange everything in my room upon my return from paradise. let's just say everything in my room has been resituated 45 degrees clockwise, which of course, places my desk directly in front of my front door. i currently have to use the "side entrance", also known as the bathroom. as immediate action was needed to be taken, i decided to help advertise tiff's moving / feng shui services on Craigslist. she has already received many replies. i also decided that it was time for tiff and nick to get some action, so i posted an ad for tiff under the category women seeking women and for nick men seeking men. i think nick and tiff were both quite appreciative.

the BIG SPLASH will be held Sat. at 10am in Berkeley. unlike the BIG GAME, CAL owns stanfurd in water polo winning the Heaston Trophy (given to the winner of the BIG SPLASH) for the past 3 years. anyone who's interested in going give me a call. there will be former and current olympians there....and i'll stand next to them to try and blend in. and remember, the only reason the guys in the water are so good is that they got to practice against tools like kev and i.

will see you all at Taft's after day turkey goobily-gawk thing.
ECP.

Tuesday 11.19.02
6:56 PM
UCD Computer Lab

Does anyone even check this thing anymore? The number of posts has seen a dramatic decrease in the past couple of months. What's up with that? Write people! I want stories, thoughts, feelings, anecdotes, trash-talking...you name it, it belongs here.

Big ups to Phil for being a faithful citizen of the blogworld.

Following in Phil's footsteps, I thought I'd write a little bit about my weekend, since it was a rare entertaining one that surprisingly didn't consist of me sitting on my ass being bored as hell. The fun started on Friday when my good neighbors next door (who happen to be two of my former teammates) hosted their annual "Wine & Cheese" event. This entailed getting all dolled up and getting drunk the high fashion style, with glasses and glasses of fine wine. And yes, Tafty got wayyyy tipsy. Enough said.

Continuing the "let's pretend to party it up like the rich" theme, the following Saturday I went to Sonoma with some friends for my first winery open house. My friend is a member of a wine club and gets invites to open houses for some of the wineries in Sonoma. As we pulled up in the parking lot in a janky 1980-something Jeep, we couldn't help but notice the BMW on our left, the Mercedes on our right, and of course the occassional Porsche here and there. Hmmmm...needless to say we felt a little out of place. But who cares, it was free wine tasting and appetizers all day! The atmosphere in the winery itself felt like a swanky ass barbecue. I believe I overheard a conversation about trips to the Hamptons at least twice. Bouuuuu-gie. We spent the rest of the day walking around downtown Sonoma and then decided to cap the night off with a "Sex and the City" DVD.

The bougie lifestyle ended there, as Sunday was spent doing errands and of course watching the U.S. men's national team play a friendly against El Salvador. It was nice to see some of my favorite MLS players wearing the national team jersey. And apparently the curse of the blue jersey is over, as the U.S. beat El Salvador 2-0. The highlight of the match for me (no, it has nothing to do with Landon Donovan. Calm down) was seeing the Metrostars' Clint Mathis wear the captain's armband. He received a lot of shlack during and after the World Cup by just about everyone, so it was nice to see him come back and show them all that he is indeed, the shit. Go Clint.

And to put a final end to the weekend, I went to see the new Harry Potter flick. All I have to say is that it was better than the first one.

Time for me to catch the bus home. Hope to read some new blogs soon.


~Taft

Anyone interested?
Bulls@Warriors this Wed., Nov. 20
7 or 7:30 pm (I forget)
Oakland Arena...tickets as low as $10
Transportation: BART

I'm getting there early to get autographs from my favorite DUKIES!

Call me by tonight or before lunch (12pm) tomorrow (Nov. 19).
I'm trying to get the tix by Tues. nite.

Jefe