Back at School after NYC and DC (Part I)

I'm back at school now and just finished up my first complete week of classes after missing last week as a result of our Warsaw trip to NY. That means I'm back to reading/studying and working in the tutoring center while sloshing through the rain to and from campus. Anyways, here's an update on my trip.

Sunday, Jan. 8th - Tuesday morning Jan 10th
Took the Jet Blue red eye into JFK that landed at 4:30 am. The plan was to head to Manhattan, drop most of my stuff off at Mary's and then head to Chinatown for the Chinatown bus to DC. Mary got pretty hammered Saturday night so it was a struggle trying to get a hold of her or her boyfriend Eric. Thankfully, their doorman was persistent in calling. Anyways, made it on the 7 am bus and got to DC to meet up with Siri (in town from Bay Area for a conference) and Grace (attorney living in DC). Siri was meeting up with some Woody Woo friends while Grace was working so I headed out to meet up with Siri in Adams Morgan.

I basically just dropped my stuff off at Grace's afterwards and headed to go watch the Capitals/Panther's hockey game at the MCI Center. I had a whole section to myself since it was really empty but it was fun seeing hockey live nonetheless. Funny thing happened on the way back to Grace's on the subway. I ended up getting on the Metro from an entrance about a block away from the MCI Center and raced into the first car of the train that just pulled in. Lo and behold, I see this girl with her eyes closed who kind of looks like Christy (but I'm thinking it couldnt be her. Her and Peter both live in the Bay Area). Then I look over to the side and it's Peter. So random! Peter was in town for a 6 week training and Christy was visiting. Last time i saw them was after the Cal-U$C debacle in Berkeley.

Afterwards, I went to dinner with Grace, Siri, and their high school friend Kim and then had some overpriced cupcakes on the way back to Grace's. Pretty much went to sleep after that, but not before picking as much cat hair off of my clothes as possible. (Grace's cat Choo-Cho is a huge furball. I remember that thing when it was a small kitten, not it's a fat furball).

Woke up early on Monday to check into the DC Grand Hyatt, where Siri was staying for her conference. I was gonna take a short nap before heading out the Arlington Cemetary, since that's one of the few places left of my DC list of places to see. Unfortunately, I was really tired and the bed was so comfy that I slept in til 12:30. Finally got out of bed and went out to Georgetown to meet up with Dayna (getting some Master's in Medicine at Georgetown) for lunch. After that, I was on a quest to find a Washington National's hat for Sean (Siri's husband) and then walked to the Mall and checked out the Capitol.

Woke up early the next morning and headed back out on the Chinatown bus back up to NY.
My cousin, Jackson and his wife are now the proud parents of Brandon Ting. The first hapa-kid in my family.

More Winter Break

Well, it's now my last week in LA before heading to NY on Saturday for the Warsaw Center NY trip for 2nd year MBAs . Winter break started off really slow at first with the days dragging on but ever since going to Vegas baby Vegas, things have really gone by fast and I'm starting to realize that it's back to reality, that being school, really soon.

Vegas was great, especially since Cal beat BYU in the Vegas Bowl and I ended up about $100 on top from the craps tables. The tables were pretty friendly to me, especially when playing with Conor and his dad. They're my craps table inspiration. The Dr. and the Dolla-Yo were also there in full force. I also met up with Dennis, Jacqui, and James. I think I unleashed a monster when I coerced Jacqui to start playing a little craps. In the end, she won $74 and wagered very little. Also randomly ran into Carrie at the game, who just so happened so sit in my section. It's so random when I bump into Carrie. Last time I saw her was at Oakland Airport a few years ago.
Unfortunately, the sportsbook wasn't so friendly and I missed out on my parlays (damn Oregon and Western Michigan couldn't cover). Anyways, it was great hanging out with Jenny and her sister, Rose, especially Jenny's driving in the Sam Boyd Stadium parking lot.

To continue my bowl season, my buddy Paul and I went down to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl between Oregon and Oklahoma. I hoped to erase the nightmares of last year's Cal loss to Texas Tech. Paul and I stopped off at Fred's in Pacific Beach before the the game and enjoyed the scenery and food in PB. Too bad it wasn't summer but it was still nice. Once we got the Jack Murphy, I met up with Dave, from the Warriors, and Doug, who now works for the Chargers. It was great seeing those guys. As for the game, Oregon didn't do much and was inconsistent and lucky to still be in it before Brady Leaf's interception to end any final hopes.

Not sure what I'm gonna do the rest of the week but I'll most likely just hang out with friends and eat at more of my favorite places. Also, Happy New Year!